June 12, 2016 Dr. Jim Cecy Dealing With My Greed James 5:1-6 “(Money is) an article which may be used as a universal passport to everything except heaven, and as a universal provider of everything except happiness.” (Wall Street Journal) • James 5:1-6 “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.” • Deuteronomy 8:18 “But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth...” • Proverbs 10:22 “It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it.” • 1 Timothy 6:6-10 “But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” • James 5:1 “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.” • Luke 12:15 “Beware and be on your guard against every form of greed, for not even when one has an abundance doe his life consist of his possessions” A Biblical Definition of Greed • Matthew 7:22-23 — the sin of greed originates in the heart • 2 Peter 2:14 — the sin of greed engrosses the heart • Colossians 3:5 — the sin of greed is a form of idolatry • Psalm 10:3 — God hates our greed with a holy passion • Jeremiah 6:13 “For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for gain, and from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.” (New Testament word for greed: Greek: pleonexia = ravenous and voracious) • Ecclesiastes 5:10 “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity.”

I. The Certain Miseries James 5:1 “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.” God will not tolerate our idolatrous greed very long. It’s just a matter of time before that lifestyle comes crashing in on us.

II. Our Greedy Methods • James 5:2-3 “Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!”

A. Hoarding Things The Three G’s of Wealth in the Ancient World = 1) Grain (food) 2) Garments (clothing) 3) Gold (money) • Your riches (i.e. your food and grain) have rotted • Your garments have become moth-eaten. • Your gold and your silver have rusted (Greek: katioo = corroded, from a root word (ios) = to become poisonous. James 5:3 “...their rust (i.e. their devaluation) will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire.” “Is the stuff I do not use a witness against me?” James 5:3 “It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!” As we see the day of the Lord’s return coming upon us, it should be a time when we should be downsizing; not storing up. As the end times unfold, it is even more important that we invest wisely in what will last for eternity— those things that will give people the best opportunity to hear the gospel and disciple them to become mature, reproducing followers of Jesus Christ. Proverbs 23:4-5 “Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings, like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.” • Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

B. Refusing to Pay • James 5:4 “Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.”

• Leviticus 19:13 ‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning.” • Deuteronomy 24:15 “You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; so that he may not cry against you to the Lord and it become sin in you.” • Proverbs 3:27-28 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it,” when you have it with you. • Mark 12:17 “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” • Romans 13:8 “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” • 1 Timothy 5:18 “ You shall not muzzle the ox (i.e. keep him from eating) while he is threshing,” and “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” • James 5:4 “...the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” (i.e. Jehovah Sabaoth/the Lord of Hosts/the Lord of Angels/the Master of the Armies of Heaven. (cf. Is. 5:9; Rom. 9:29) • Jeremiah 22:13 “Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness and his upper rooms without justice, who uses his neighbor’s services without pay and does not give him his wages...” • Malachi 3:5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness...against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages... says the Lord of hosts.”

C. Spending Irresponsibly • James 5:5 “You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.” “If you would abolish avarice (i.e. greed), you must abolish its mother, luxury.” (Cicero) “Too many people spend money they haven’t earned to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like.” (Will Rogers)

D. Mistreating Others • James 5:6 “You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.” cf. 1 Timothy 6:10 “Love people. Use things. Not vice-versa.” “As one that slayeth his neighbor is he that taketh away his living; and as a shedder of blood is he that depriveth a hireling of his hire.” (Ancient book of Ecclesiasticus, Chapter 34:22) • Proverbs 11:6 “The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the treacherous will be caught by their own greed.” • Proverbs 28:20 “A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich will not go unpunished.”

III. God’s Certain Solution: Eph: 5:3 “...do not let....greed....even be named among you, as is proper among saints...” GIVE IT UP! • Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (i.e. the love of money).” • Luke 12:20-21 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ So is the man who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” • Prov. 11:4 “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death (i.e. spiritual separation from God).” GIVE IT OVER! • Matthew 6:31-34 “Do not be anxious then, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we clothe ourselves?’ For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” GIVE IT AWAY! Instead of hoarding it or investing it in some worldly endeavor, it is time to use our money for Kingdom purposes. • Philippians 4:1-13 “Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

Discussion Questions: 1. In what ways do you believe you struggle with greed? 2. Which of these have you witnessed in your life or around you? a. Hoarding things? c. Spending irresponsibly? e. Any others? b. Refusing to pay what is owed? d. Mistreating others? 3. Practically speaking what does it mean for you to “give it up, give it over and give it away”? 4. What challenged you the most in this message and what do you specifically plan to do about that?

© 2016 Dr. James Cecy, Campus Bible Church, Fresno, CA. 93726 www.campusbiblechurch.com