It Won't Stave Off What's Coming! Think About The Judgments On The Wicked Wealthy. Ask James About All Those.
Their impending judgment will come at the time of the 2nd Advent. They were fattening themselves for the day of slaughter. The slaughtering that still happens is by slitting the throats or by electronic methods. In the case of many today, I think it will be at the Battle of Armageddon
What were the four sins of the unrepentant wicked-wealthy addressed in James 5?
1.) Their useless hoarding. It was like a buried rusting treasure. Helped no one!
2.) Their unjust robbery. They refused to pay wages to their day laborers who mowed their fields. Did they pay out zero for wages? Maybe not, but they still withheld. It was total default on their part, a sin of omission (v4). These wages were crying out to God. Remember when the the blood of Able cried out for justice? The sins of Sodom also cried out to God (Gen. 18:20, 19:13).
Did you know the average donor to false teachers is a 55 to 65 year old middle-America single woman. It's sad when the nondiscerning support robbing false teachers of any era (A top characteristic of a false prophet is greed). This sin really grieves God and He will act!
3.) Their self-indulgent, self-focused, overly lavish spending was sin!
4.) Their ruthless acquisition was also sin -- maintaining their lifestyle at any cost, fulfilling their own lusts at other's expense.They didn't care about others suffering lack or the destruction of anybody who'd get in their way. What a travesty!
"Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you." James 5:6What a frightening day to waste the substance that God has given to us to use for his glory.
God's denunciation with the impending judgment ahead for these wealthy wicked was clearly laid out by James (chp. 5).
Those sins were not merely from isolated incidents, but rather, they reflect a deeply ingrained pattern of selfishness. They disregarded the poor, and they loved material possessions over God and over righteousness. The accumulated wealth of the wicked (was often other than with lands and buildings/properties back then). It was primarily in food, clothes. and money that's why these are addressed). It was amassed through unjust means. It will ultimately testify against them in judgment (James 5:3).
“You have lived luxuriously on the earth,” That word is truphaō. It means, basically, “softness” (unlike John the Baptizer lived, but more like backslidden King Solomon lived)
“You have lived in softness.” That really soft luxury, like people see in king's castles.
"Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: 'What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind? Otherwise, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Look, those who wear elegant clothing and live in luxury are found in palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet." Luke 7:24b-26
Hey, you rich folk are NO ROBIN HOOD types, even, you rob for yourselves! You’re not stealing from day laborers to give to other poor people, you’re stealing from people to pad your own crib if you get my gist. Soft luxury often leads to vice!
Extravagant comfort apart from the Comforter, that’s the idea. “You have indulged in extravagant comfort.” Listen, God doesn’t necessarily want you to sit on a soap box and sleep on a straw mat. But you’ve carried it all way beyond anything reasonable, rich dude.
And it follows. Look at what we’re seeing today. These people who have amassed these huge amounts of money in Jesus' name, who have robbed the people that they have taken it from have consumed it on themselves. Soft luxury with that lifestyle of selfish-indulgence, with personal indulgence; that is the issue James is addresses. They go way beyond what is acceptable before the Lord.
Q: When is enough really enough for you? When is it enough for other people?
Many rich folk feel that they must have a little bit more to be happy. Yes, more than they currently have. There is more of a danger of prostituting money when you have a lot of wealth.
Luke (in 12:48 niv) states, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."
Having Jesus inside is enough. If you have Him and righteous fellowship, then you are richer than rich!
Remember reading what James thundered, “Come now, you rich—weep and howl” (in Jas. 5:1-6). We all need to recall these words.
You know that James was not railing against wealth (which could be used for doing good or evil..) itself but against hearts warped by it. His words land like thunderclaps in every age, reminding us that swollen bank accounts can mask a famished soul.
1. Having Wealth, What You Do With It Is like A Spiritual MRI
Jesus framed money as a spiritual X-ray. He gave us multiple tests for our faith to see if it was real or fake, biblical or off-base. Here's one test: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt 6:21). James simply turns the screen toward us. What fills our accounts—heaven’s ledger or earth-bound ledgers? The answer exposes our true master.
James echoed what? This -- the test that our Lord originated. Here is what our Lord said in Matthew 6:19 to 21, very familiar passage: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth” – notice the similarity to James’ passage – “and rust corrupts, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal;” – and then this – “for where your treasure is,” – what? – “there will your heart be also.” Yep, this is dealing with a real test.
So where is your heart? Hey, just show me where your treasure is.
Where have you been stockpiling your treasure and for what reasons?
Where have you been stowing it away, where are you placing your wealth? This is the same test that Jesus gave us in the Sermon on the Mount.
Read in Luke 16:11 - “If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous money, who will commit to your trust the true riches?”
Do you think God will commit to you the realities of His eternal kingdom, which are the true riches, if you have not demonstrated a proper handling of money? Will God give you what is really valuable if you can’t handle what is not? “If you have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?” If you can’t be faithful in the money that you manage as a stewardship from God, as it were, then why would God give you something of your own to possess with a spiritual nature?
And then He sums it up: “No servant can serve two masters: either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” And the very next verse, “And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things; and they derided Him.” They were merely religious -- the accurate state of their heart was exposed / revealed in their lust or covetousness. It is a test for us too.
2. The Numbers Don’t Lie
Current research echoes James’s warning. Barna finds that only 21 % of self-identified Christians give a full tithe, while one in four give nothing at all. Even among “practicing” believers, fewer than half (42 %) tithe. Another survey shows just 5% of churchgoers actually bring the first tenth to God.
These stats reveal not a budgeting issue but a discipleship deficit: we are cash-rich and kingdom-poor.
3. Voices That Still Ring True
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” —Jim Elliot
“Gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can.” —John Wesley
Elliot’s martyr-sharpened insight and Wesley’s balanced triad shatter the myth that generosity and prudence are enemies. They invite us to steward every dollar as seed for eternity.
4. Hymns That Tune the Heart
Frances Havergal taught us to sing, “Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.”
And George Beverly Shea’s refrain still humbles millionaires and minimum-wage earners alike: “I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold.”
When our playlists become prayers, covetousness loses its grip.
5. The Test James Sets
James outlines four warning lights: corroded treasure (vv. 2-3), unpaid wages (v. 4), self-indulgent luxury (v. 5), and oppression of the righteous (v. 6). Whenever profit trumps people, or comfort mutes compassion, judgment is already ticking on God’s clock.
6. Some Televangelists have Gone from From PTL to Pay-Pal—It's Been The Same Old Idol
Whether in the TV scandals of yesterday or the influencer lifestyles of today, the love of money still “pierces with many griefs” (1 Tim. 6:10). Headlines are merely public autopsies of private idolatry that led to death. The death of a ministry has happened far too often. Once is too much. We have very limited time to get the gospel message to the last, the physically alive, the least -- to the lost.
7. A Better Investment Strategy
-
Repent: Transfer ownership—every asset is God’s.
-
Redistribute: Budget firstfruits, not leftovers.
-
Repair: Pay what you owe; make wrongs right.
-
Re-invest: Channel margin into people, justice, and gospel advance; that portfolio never crashes.
8. The Gospel’s Golden Standard
At Calvary, the richest Being in the entire universe Jesus, “though He was rich, became poor” so we could inherit unfading riches (2 Co 8:9). The cross is God’s balance sheet: infinite generosity covering infinite debt. Let that grace pry our fingers off perishing coins and open them for eternal dividends.
So—check your statements. If moths would feast and rust would spread, shift your treasure. Eternal joy is the only safe bank, and Christ is the only trustworthy Banker. Everything else is counterfeit coin.
The Fire Behind the Rust — James 5:1-6 Reframed
James is targeting the “rich fakers” in the pews—people who hashtag Jesus on Sunday but hashtag #WealthGoals the rest of the week. His blast is not just for them; it’s to warn us never to let dollars dethrone Christ.
1. Judgment That Screams
Lament you who are living in sin. “Come now, you rich, weep and howl..” (v. 1). James borrows that Old-Testament war-cry that means shriek like you’ve just seen hell open. The Greek verbs are present tense—keep on sobbing, keep on screaming—because the sentence is already on the docket.
“Money is the servant of the wise and the master of fools.” — Charles H. Spurgeon
2. Why the Verdict Is Guilty
| Charge | Evidence James Gives | Modern Echo |
|---|---|---|
| Useless hoarding | Grain rotted, garments moth-eaten, coins corroded (vv. 2-3) | Packed closets, maxed portfolios, forgotten GoFundMeAccounts |
| Cheating workers | Unpaid wages crying to God (v. 4) | Wage theft, late invoices, “exposure bucks” |
| Luxury without limits | “Fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter” (v. 5) | Third vacation home while churches cut missions budgets |
| Persecuting the righteous | Condemned and murdered the innocent (v. 6) | Lawsuits and smear campaigns to protect profits |
3. A Mirror for Every Believer
Don’t shrug this off as “rich-people problems.” By global standards, anyone with discretionary income is rich. Barna’s latest State of Generosity report shows only 25 % of self-identified Christians give regularly to their church, while 55 % of practicing believers do. barna.com The gap isn’t about math; it’s about masters—God or gold.
Spurgeon warned, “Where I have known one man fail through poverty, I have known fifty men fail through riches.” spurgeon.org
4. Five Gospel Uses for Money
-
Family care — “Anyone who does not provide … is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Ti 5:8).
-
Kingdom advance — “On the first day … set aside” (1 Co 16:2).
-
Evangelism — “Make friends for yourselves by means of worldly wealth” (Lk. 16:9).
-
Relief of the poor — “If anyone has the world’s goods and closes his heart..” (1 Jn. 3:17).
-
Support of gospel workers — “The laborer is worthy of his wages” (1 Tim. 5:18).
“As base a thing as money often is, it can be transmuted into everlasting treasure… Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality.” — A.W. Tozer azquotes.com
5. Tune Your Heart with a Hymn
“Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold;” —Frances R. Havergal
Sing praises to Jesus in the middle of it all, and choose to trust Him. Pray over it all, yes over what God is calling you to be and do.. until your budget so-called: fully believes it.. until the Lord provides all you need, until you can go do all that God wants you doing for His glory. Hey, where God guides, He in love provides.
6. A Baptist-Straight Like Call to Action
-
Repent of silent greed—name it before the Lord.
-
Draft a “kingdom budget” that treats every dollar as God’s property.
-
Aim to give first, save wisely, live simply.
-
Let Spirit-led wise generosity be your apologetic; people will listen when love picks up the tab.
“Only one life, ’twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.”
2 Unpaid Wages That Scream to Heaven (v. 4)
James pivots from rotting barn stuff to robbing payrolls from laborers: “The wages you withheld are crying out, and the Lord of Hosts has heard.” In today’s terms, wage theft drains more from U.S. workers each year than every burglary and armed robbery combined; regulators clawed back $1.5 billion in stolen pay from 2021-23 alone. epi.org
“It is bad to see our money become a runaway servant and leave us, but worse to have it stay and become our master.” —C. H. Spurgeon
If unpaid invoices or under-the-table shortcuts pad our margins, our spreadsheets testify against us like Abel’s blood in the soil.
3 Luxury on a Ticking Clock (v. 5)
“You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”
Picture cattle feasting moments before the knife—James’ metaphor cuts through marble countertops and platinum cards. Barna notes that while U.S. Christians enjoy the world’s highest disposable incomes, only 21 % give even a baseline tithe; one-quarter give nothing. barna.com
Carol Owens’ chorus corrects the calculus:
“Freely, freely you have received; freely, freely give.”
Indulgence is not neutral; it is spiritual obesity, blunting our appetite for kingdom work.
4 The Violence Greed Breeds (v. 6)
“You have condemned and murdered the righteous person; he does not resist you.”
When profit becomes an idol, people become expendable—sweat-shop labor, predatory lending, gig-worker misclassification. One construction study estimates workers lose $50 billion annually to illegal pay practices that flourish behind gated profits. theguardian.com
The cross shows the alternative economy: the Innocent laid down His life for the guilty, not to the guilty. True disciples refuse to crush others to climb.
5 Five Checks for the Bankbook of the Soul
| Heart Check | Gospel Remedy |
|---|---|
| Are my employees / contractors fully paid promptly and fully? | Honor every due; God audits payrolls. |
| Does my lifestyle preach contentment in JC or consumption Apart from Him? | Budget generosity first; lifestyle later. |
| Do I weaponize lawsuits or power imbalances? | Seek justice, love mercy (Mic 6:8). |
| Is my giving systematic or sporadic? | “We give Thee but Thine own..” |
| Could a stranger see Christ’s priorities in my spending? | Store treasure where moth and rust can’t touch it. |
6 A Straightforward Altar Call
Come to Christ--repent and believe. Change, let Him change you from the inside out. Deal with your unpaid debts, all those bloated luxuries, and any harm done in pursuit of gain. Redirect wealth toward wages that bless, ministries that heal, and neighbors who hurt. The last days are no time to fatten calves; they are time to fund harvest.
Living Light — Paul’s “End-Times Budget”
Paul urges last-days believers to buy as though they owned nothing (1 Cor 7:29-31). The world’s façade is already folding, so assets are best wired ahead to heaven. Jesus echoes it: “Sell your possessions and give alms…for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Lk 12:33-34). In practice that means letting income flow through us, not pool beneath us. Barna still finds just 21 % of U.S. Christians tithe, while a quarter give nothing at all—a figure that betrays how earth-bound many hearts remain. barna.com
Four Sins James Get Exposed (Again see Jas 5:1-6)
| Sin | Ancient Sign | 2025 Mirror | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hoarding | Grain rotted, robes moth-eaten, coins corroded (vv 2-3) | Storage units, swelling portfolios, unused gift cards |
| 2 | Wage Theft | Day-laborers left unpaid (v 4) | Wage-theft strips U.S. workers of ≈ $8 billion/year in 10 large states alone, far more than all robberies combined epi.org |
| 3 | Self-Indulgence | “Fattened hearts for a day of slaughter” (v 5) | Luxury spend outpaces church giving; “freely, freely you have received—freely give” still goes unsung |
| 4 | Ruthless Acquisition | Courts used to “condemn and kill the righteous” (v 6) | Lawsuits, smear campaigns, buy-outs that silence whistle-blowers |
The Lord of Hosts Hears
Withheld pay “has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth”—the Commander of heaven’s armies. Modern spreadsheets agree: regulators clawed back $1.5 billion in stolen wages in just two recent years, but that is only a fraction of the total injustice crying for judgment. dol.govepi.org
A Five-Point Heart Audit
-
Budget eternity first: Give before you spend.
-
Pay people promptly: Every invoice on your desk is a spiritual matter (Deut 24:15).
-
Cap that overly-wild-lifestyle: Opt to deny yourself. Die to self. Luxury turns vice when self-denial disappears.
-
Refuse predatory gain: Don't act like a predator. Never. Let no deal crush the weak. Let's protect and pray for people.
-
Plan your exit from a greedy lifestyle: Like Count Zinzendorf—who funneled his fortune into Moravian missions—aim to leave this world lighter than you entered.
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” —Jim Elliot
Then verse 3, and the motive is through covetousness, they covet. They want things and money and power with feigned words – that is with words of hypocrisy – they make merchandise of you. They really turn you into a commodity for their own gain.
Down in verse 10, further, he talks about these kinds of people being presumptuous, self-willed; and you follow the text into verse 12, they are natural brute beasts that ought to be taken and destroyed. They speak evil of the things they don’t understand, and they will utterly perish in their own corruption. They will receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure to revel in the daytime; that is they engage in wildness and wickedness in the daytime. They are flesh spots and filth scabs reveling with their own deceivings while they feast with you. Their eyes are full of adultery. They can’t cease from sin. They beguile unstable souls. They have a heart they have exercised with covetous practices.
And then he says, “They like Balaam” – in verse 15 – “love the wages of unrighteousness.” Verse 18, they speak great swelling words of vanity. They are proud and egotistical, and they are the heroes of all their own stories. They allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness those that are just escaping from them who live in error. They are especially good at capturing people who are just coming out of some error but haven’t yet grasped the truth. Verse 19, they promise liberty, but they are the servants of corruption.
