Generous Who?
James 5:1-6
July 30, 2023
A man was a regular diner at a restaurant. One day he complained that he only received one piece of bread with his meal, so the waiter promptly brought him 4 slices.
The next time he came to the restaurant he wasn’t satisfied with the 4 pieces, so he received 6 slices with his supper.
The next time he came in he commented they were being frugal with their bread, so they gave him a basket filled with bread. But the complaints didn’t stop.
Finally, the owner decided to end this for good. The next night he baked a colossal loaf of bread baked. It was 6 feet long and 3 feet wide. It took 3 people to carry it to the man. They laid it on the table and stood be the man smiling, knowing they did all they could.
The man looked at the gigantic loaf of bread and said,
“So, we’re back to ONE piece again?”
This is where we’re at with our study of the book of James. To be honest, James has nothing good to say in this section. In fact, as you think about what James has been writing about, he sounds like he’s not too happy.
He’s talked about our need to suck it up when going through trials, he’s questioned our faith, if there’s no actions, he’s talked about the destruction that comes from our tongue, our coveting, our arrogance and now, he’s getting on us about our desire for wealth.
Geesh! So, with all that in mind, let’s dive into what James is telling us, and then we’ll look at a solution.
James tells us - - -
1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.
2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth - eaten.
3 Your 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.
4 Behold, 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.
5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self - indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. - James 5:1-6
That’s inspiring! So, let’s start on the negative side first - - -
If you took an honest tour of your home, would you say you have more than you need? Most of us would be guilty of that. Of course, having stuff, also known as junk, or having wealth is NOT wrong. Nowhere does the Bible condemn people who are wealthy - - - - and neither does James.
James looked at the 3 greatest ways people in his day demonstrated they were wealthy. They showed their wealth through — grain, clothing and jewels. James says all of them will decay. The grain will become rotten, the clothes will be eaten by moths (they didn’t have moth balls in those days) and most importantly, James says their gold and silver will rust. Until I did a little looking, I found out that gold and silver do not rust, so what is James point about these jewels?
His point is that whatever you’re banking on will not last, even our most precious and indestructible things are doomed to decay. This rust is proof of impermanence and ultimate valuelessness of all worldly things.
It’s also a warning, James goes on to say that our desire for such riches can eat away our body and soul. James uses extremely vivid imagery to bring that point home when he says “the corrosion of the jewels will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire.”
That’s pretty tough language by James. We’ve all known people who desired wealth and their drive to accumulate it, or to accumulate more stuff, ate away at them. In some ways it ate at their soul. And that’s really what satan wants to do us. He wants us to believe that we need to have the most toys, because the one with the most toys wins, right? Wrong!
We’ve heard of people who have won the lottery. And so many of them eventually file bankruptcy or squander their money, they no longer talk to family members, and life has become joyless. Why? Because they valued their wealth more so than a relationship with Jesus Christ.
In Matthew 19, a rich young ruler asked Jesus what he needed to inherit the kingdom and have treasure in heaven. Jesus told him - - -
21 ... go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.
22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. - Matthew 19:22
Would this describe you and I? Are we so close to experiencing the kingdom of heaven, but our desire for what the world offers us is just to great to resist . . . and we give in - - - - seeking to get more . . . whatever it is, sometimes it doesn’t matter what it is, we just want more.
In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us - - -
19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
So, the call from Jesus is not to store up treasure on earth, but to store up treasures in heaven. I’d agree with Jesus. I think we all would. That’s pretty wise on our part, but the doing becomes more difficult. I believe we can, when we stop and look at who God is.
You see, it’s easy to go through the day and not give a thought about God. We’re busy, we’re working, going to school, shopping, taking care of the kids, we have appointments and more. We make the excuse that life is getting in the way. I think that’s a pretty bad excuse, but a pretty common one.
So, how can we move to a different way of looking at life, one where we’re more apt to store or seek heavenly treasure? It starts with our outlook!
One of God’s attributes we don’t often talk about is God’s generosity. God is the greatest giver of all time. And we’re called to imitate God, to be more like Jesus. We realize the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are supremely generous.
I believe we should be generous because our God is generous and will abundantly reward us when we are. Those rewards are not necessarily financial. They can be health, they can be spiritual gifts, they can be wisdom or faith or prayer.
Our God is a lavishly giving, overflowing, generous, bountiful, magnanimous God who loves to give good gifts to his children. He even blesses those who hate him with thousands of good things. How much more then, will God bless those He bought who believe and have been redeemed through His Son’s precious blood.
We can look at the beauty and majesty of creation. We see God’s handiwork, His creativity at work.
Psalm 19 tells us - - -
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork. - Psalm 19:1
There are more than 750 species of butterflies and 11,000 species of moths, 22,000 species of fish, 150 species of roses . . . and 35,000 species of spiders in the world. That’s just part of God’s creativity.
Look around you and you will see the glory and power and majesty of God all around us. Every moment of every day offers us the opportunity to witness and experience the glory of God.
But that’s just the start . . . the greatest and most generous gift our God has given us is the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, who in the greatest act of generosity ever, poured out His blood to save us, and gives us the gift of life now and life eternally.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 1 - - - and this is long, but I really couldn’t leave anything out, but just pause and listen to these words from Paul and give thanks - - -
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as He CHOSE us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be HOLY and BLAMELESS before Him. In love 5 He PREDESTINED us for ADOPTION to himself as children through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have REDEMPTION through His blood, the FORGIVENESS of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, 8 which He LAVISHED upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Understand what Paul is telling us in this passage about God’s generosity. Paul tells us God has blessed us with not some, but with every spiritual blessing. That means God doesn’t hold back. He’s generous in giving us His spiritual blessings.
He chose us so that we would be holy and blameless and we would be adopted as His children. We are dearly, deeply, passionately loved. That’s pretty good right there, but Paul goes on and tells us - - -
We are redeemed through the blood of Jesus. Our sins are forgiven, He’s extended His grace to us. And God has lavished us with these gifts in giving us wisdom and insight into the mystery of God’s will.
Which means we have an opportunity to better understand who God is because He’s given to us over and above what He needed to simply because He loves us and call us His kids.
And because He loves us, Paul continues, telling us - - -
11 In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, - Ephesians 1:11
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. - Romans 11
In Romans 8, Paul added - - -
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. - Romans 8
The point of these passages is that we are God’s children. We have been given an inheritance that Peter tells us will never fade, will never perish, it will never spoil, it will always be.
In fact, Paul reminded us that the gifts and calling by God to you and I are IRREVOCABLE! That’s a great word. In Greek it not only means something that cannot be reversed, but it’s something God would never want to reverse. It’s something God is not sorry He did.
It’s not like we give a gift to someone and we’re kind of sorry we gave it to them. God isn’t sorry for what He’s lavished upon us. He’s thrilled that He could give us His Son, and that we would say YES, Lord . . .
Fill me and mold me and make me more and more like you. That’s what we find in God. He’s the ultimate giver, the most generous of the generous.
Not only has He given us Jesus, but, now that we’ve experienced Jesus and His grace and love and mercy; the hope through forgiveness - - - we should be a changed people, as we now move into the world and become generous people.
No longer do we allow the greed of the world, the desire to keep accumulating more and more, instead we become generous like God. That’s what James wants us to understand. It’s what he wants us to believe and trust in.
God is generous! God is filled with love and grace and offers us His power to change the world, but if we hoard it, if we refuse to share it, if we refuse to work on forgiving, if we persist in our sinfulness, if we continue to not be obedient to Him . . . then we will ultimately lose.
So, dear friends, take this hope with you, that Jesus loves you. He died for you and offers you grace upon grace upon grace. He lavishly, passionately, fervently loves you.
James talks about our greed and desire for more and more and more. Take the words of James and turn them around and follow the call of God to go into the world and give, giving joyfully and cheerfully out of the abundance of how God has given to you!!
I don’t think there’s many of us who would say I’m not blessed. In spite of troubles and hardships, we’ve all been blessed by a God who gives and gives. He gives to us physically, financially, emotionally, mentally and most especially spiritually . . . .
So, go . . . don’t stop, look for the moments where you can make a difference in the world, don’t hoard it, don’t be selfish, but go and show the world who Jesus is.
