James 5: 1-6:
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 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. 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. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.
I have read the following words, that resonated with this text: “God is not opposed to the wealthy, but the wealthy are often opposed to God.” James has some strong words to say to the wealthy here in this passage. However, we must be careful to not take these words out of the context of the entire Biblical message, and use these words to make a blanket statement that God is opposed to wealth. This off balanced idea pits the rich against the poor. That is the idea that is promoted in the World’s System, not God’s system. The Bible makes no distinction between the value of people based on the amount of money or possessions that they have, or do not have. Money is not the issue. The heart is the issue. What does your heart love? On what have you set your affections? What do you ultimately depend on? Jesus said:
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Matthew 6:24)
Ecclesiastes 5:10 says: “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.”
1 Timothy 6:10 reads: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
This passage from 1 Timothy is often misquoted as follows: “Money is the root of all evil.” Money is a thing. It has no life in it. Inanimate objects are incapable of being either good or evil. It is how they are used that is either good or evil. Money, in and of itself as a physical object, has no value . Money is just paper or metal. But it represents value in our exchange system. It is the value that we assign to it. The LOVE of money is the issue, not money. Can a person have lots of money, and not love money? He certainly can. Can a person have no money, and love money? He certainly can.
How can a person who has no money love money? If they see money as the answer to all their problems, they love money. How can a person who has lots of money not love money? The answer is simple: their heart is not set on money. Money can be used to serve God, make things better for others that are less fortunate, or it can be used to live an extravagant life style of self-indulgence. The latter is the use of wealth that James is condemning. Money, as well as all the things money can buy, is temporary. It exists as an illusion. It will be destroyed.
Think with me for a moment. If you could have any car you wanted, what would it be? For me, it would be a brand-new candy apple red Corvette! It would be exciting! Imagine I got that car. Now fast forward in time about 20 -25 years after I got that car. More than likely that car could be worn out and sitting in a junkyard somewhere. (Yes, I know people restore old cars, just go along with this for a moment.) The point is, every material thing we desire in this world is temporary. It will one day go away, no matter how solid it seems at the time. When we set our hearts on temporary things, we die with them. When we set our hearts on that which is eternal, we live! Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever! (Hebrews 13:8)
Here is an interesting bit from American-historama.org:
The rise of prosperity of the United States in 1920 led to the emergence of American Consumerism in the period in history known as the Roaring Twenties. Consumerism is the theory that it is economically attractive to encourage the attainment of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. American Consumerism increased during the Roaring Twenties due to technical advances and innovative ideas and inventions in the areas of communication, transportation and manufacturing. Americans moved from the traditional avoidance of debt to the concept by buying goods on credit installments. Mass advertising and marketing techniques via the 1920’s newspapers and the radio saw a massive increase in sales via easy consumer credit.
So here is the place we find ourselves in the 21st Century: We live in a society awash in an ideology that values stuff more than people, and truth. Consumerism is a prison, because, in consumerism, there is no such thing as “enough”. It is an endless pilgrimage to an unreachable destination.
People who have known me for very long know that I do not particularly care for professional sports. Let me clarify that. I have no aversion to sports. I even enjoy playing some sports. What I do loath is the manner in which professional sports have been elevated to the place of worship in our world. Professional athletes, and the coaches of the teams, even on the college level, get paid way too much money. Does it bother me that others have much more money than me? No. But it does bother me that athletes make so much money that young people with impressionable minds are learning the false ideology that making massive amounts of money is the most important thing in life, and that sports is one way to go about doing that. The whole industry is based on the promotion of the consumerist mentality, that ultimately leads nowhere, other than that endless, pointless quest I have just mentioned.
Of course, the same thing can be said for other avenues in which we entertain ourselves as a society. Music, movies, TV shows, etc. According to Wikipedia, the regular cast members of the popular “Friends” sitcom that ran from 1994 until 2004,
“In their original contracts for the first season, cast members were paid $22,500 per episode. The cast members received different salaries in the second season, beginning from the $20,000 range to $40,000 per episode. Before their salary negotiations for the third season, the cast decided to enter collective negotiations, despite Warner Bros.’ preference for individual deals. The actors were given the salary of the least-paid cast member, meaning Aniston and Schwimmer had their salaries reduced. The stars were paid $75,000 per episode in season three, $85,000 in season four, $100,000 in season five, $125,000 in season six, $750,000 in seasons seven and eight, and $1 million in seasons nine and ten, making Aniston, Cox, and Kudrow the highest-paid TV actresses of all time.”
Reality check here for anyone who is somewhat familiar with the show, relatively physically attractive actors and actresses are paid, to be pretty and make lots of jokes about out of wedlock sex. I am sure that is an oversimplification, but not by far. Why? Because the show made money. It sold advertising time. But what does that say about us as a people? We live on a planet where over half of the people don’t even have enough to eat, clean water, adequate medical care and shelter, and we are making millionaires and billionaires out of people that get all tatted up and throw a football or basketball, or go to a show set a couple of times a month and make jokes about sex. Tell me what is wrong with this picture?
Of all places, the Church of Jesus Christ as it meets, does not need to be feeding into this godless, consumerist hedonism. We don’t have to pretend to be a “Christian” rock show with flashy lights and fake smoke. We do not need to be promoting the Hollywood stereotype that the pretty people are the ones that get put on the big screen for the audience to see as they maneuver through their practiced hand motions. The world does not need a “Christianized” version of the same thing that the world is giving them.
We don’t need to get caught up in all this, and I think there are a lot of people in the world that are being confused as they come into our houses of worship and see the same thing. They don’t need to see pastors getting paid like athletes. Not that they shouldn’t be taken care of, but they do not need to live in extravagant luxury. This is a slippery slope, and we need to stay far away from the edge.
Danny's Stump 