Consider Their Ways

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 93
• Hymn — The Lord Reigns Over All (Psalm 93)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Heidelberg Catechism Reading — Lord's Day 41, Questions 108–109
• Hymn — Psalm 79B
• Pastoral Prayer
• Sermon
• Hymn — Blessed Is the One Who Helps the Weak (#41)
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26

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Sermon Title: Warning and Comfort in the Face of Worldly Wealth

Scripture: James 5:1-6

I. Why Is the Love of Wealth Worthy of Judgment?

A. There is a moral problem — the love of wealth is itself sin, and leads to sin upon sin

1. 1 Timothy 6:10 — "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils"
2. Hoarding of riches — garments moth-eaten, gold and silver corroded (James 5:2-3)
3. Earthly-mindedness: Jesus warns against laying up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy (Matthew 6)
4. Love of wealth leads to cruel treatment of others — unjust wages withheld by fraud (James 5:4)
5. The high point: condemnation and murder of the righteous person (James 5:6) — a failure to love one's neighbor, breaking the entire second table of the law

B. There is a temporal problem — a failure to know when you are

1. "The last days" refers to the entire period between Christ's first coming and his return in judgment (James 5:3)
2. "A day of slaughter" — a vivid picture of the coming day of judgment (James 5:5)
3. The wicked figuratively fatten themselves up, filling up the measure of their sin for the full measure of God's just wrath

C. There is a theological problem — the heart of the matter

1. The wicked wealthy person fails to reckon with the God of Scripture — his justice and righteousness
2. The failure to give regard for who God is is the sin problem of all sin problems

II. Who Is the God Who Judges the Love of Wealth?

A. God is holy, righteous, and just

1. Psalm 119 — "Righteous are you, and right are your rules, O Lord"
2. God's holiness is his moral perfection — his separateness from all creatures in righteousness
3. God's wrath poured out on Jesus at the cross proves his perfect justice for sin atoned for; likewise, his promised wrath on unrepentant sinners declares that he is just

B. God hears the cries of his people

1. James 5:4 — the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts
2. Just as God heard the cries of his enslaved people in Egypt (Exodus 2:25) — "God saw the people of Israel and he knew"
3. The all-powerful Lord of Hosts is altogether present to the everyday concerns and sufferings of his people

III. What Is the Usefulness of Pronouncing Judgment on the Love of Wealth?

A. It serves as a warning — avoid falling into love for wealth

1. Do not covet the corroding pleasures of the rich; see where it ends — in God's just judgment
2. "No man can serve two masters… you cannot serve God and money" — the current of love for riches is strong and will sweep you away
3. Application to those building retirement resources: take care of your loves — is your mind earthly or heavenly?
4. Application to the young: do not be taken in by love for the world and its temporary pleasures

B. It serves as a comfort — God's justice is the comfort of his people

1. John Calvin: the faithful, hearing of the miserable end of the rich, need not envy their fortune, and knowing God will be the avenger of wrongs, may bear them with a calm and resigned mind
2. God's people may suffer at the hands of those who love money, but vengeance is God's, not ours
3. Remember Jesus — betrayed for thirty pieces of silver; he knows how to relate to us
4. Remember your own sins — you too have cheated others; but in Christ all your sins have been laid upon him and dealt with at the cross — God's justice toward you is his mercy

C. The example of Asaph in Psalm 73

1. Asaph's feet almost stumbled as he envied the wicked their ease and outward success
2. Coming into the house of the Lord, he remembered the end of the wicked — ruin and destruction
3. May we be both warned and comforted: hold loosely the things of this world, and lay up treasure in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal