Morning Moments

JAMES Devotional Outline

V. Miscellaneous Messes - 5:1-20

There is no question that James is not only writing to his Messianic Jewish brethren who had been scattered by persecution, but he is also writing about the world in which they scattered. Some perhaps were naive about the Gentile world to which they had run, so it was necessary to warn them and to remind them how inconsistent the World's Ways are with God's. We shall look at two major concerns of James in regard to God's people and the world in which we live.

A. External Pressure 5:1-12

We can never look to the world as an example of how to do things! That has gotten today's Church in a mess we cannot get out of and it is going to probably take either great persecution or financial collapse to change our minds about being like the world. It has "pressed us into its mold" and Scripture warns us against that.

1. Treasure 5:1-3

5:1. Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. 3. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

I find it utterly amazing that the very generation that wanted to "tune in, turn on, and drop out" in the sixties is now clamoring for more and more wealth. I guess the "boomers" were late bloomers when it came to "catching on" to the World's Ways of gaining treasure.

All that is being laid up is fading fast. Look at the text! "weep...howl...miseries...corrupted...moth-eaten...cankered...rust" are the words used to show just how short-lived the wealth of the world is and how little lasting pleasure it brings.

All wealth is certainly not worthless wealth! Thank God there are many whom God has used to give very generously and liberally to the work of ministry around the world. There are also those who by hard work and ethical and honest practices have gain fortunes through the opportunities of a capitalistic society and an entrepreneurial spirit and we should be thankful for them. But to do so without compromising Christian convictions and Biblical principles is extremely difficult and anyone doing so should be honored - and will be by the Lord Himself.

Look at the last phrase in the verse - "heap treasure for the last days." Isn't that what most of us consider wise? After all, isn't that wise planning? I will be seventy this year and to be perfectly honest, sometimes I wish I had put away more. But the truth is that whatever we might have "put away" is always subject to being "taken away" on way or another if we do not invest it wisely in heavenly treasure which is not subject to moth, rust, or any of the rest.

We must settle the heart issue and then we will settle the treasure issue, for where you treasure is there will your heart be also.

BLESSINGS!