A wealthy ranch owner might find James’ words tough
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
If you’re a large ranch-owner, could James be writing to you if he wrote his letter today? Originally written to the Jewish churches, James takes an often aggressive and harsh-sounding approach to encouraging us to live out what God’s word teaches us.
At the start of James 5, he turns his attention to wealthy landowners that were in control of a lot of Galilee, though his message would apply to all wealthy people, and he takes a strong tone against any who have misused the power their wealth has given them. He gives them a warning.
James 5:1-6 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
When James tells them to week and howl at what miseries are coming, he doesn’t mean an immediate justice for their abuses and actions that have led to defrauding or even the death of some of the poor. James is talking about the eternal consequences that living a wealthy life can lead us to if we abuse that wealth. A person with a saving faith in Jesus, who has repented of sin and been forgiven through the sacrifice on the cross that Jesus made in our place, isn’t going to live like this any more.
But for those who have chosen to continue living this way, abusing their power and taking advantage of the poor, it isn’t likely that they have found the forgiveness of a life in Christ because that life leads to change.
James is writing to those who continue to live their lives focused on themselves with strong language that they have fattened their hearts by living in luxury and face their own day of slaughter, referring to God’s judgment against them. He reminds them that God has heard their cries, meaning God is fully aware of any abuse or sinful living they have enjoyed but that there is a cost to that; without a saving faith in Jesus that moves us away from sin, we face God’s wrath and eternal separation from Him in hell.
It isn’t about having wealth that leads us to God’s judgment, it’s about using our power to our own advantage and not caring for those, like those who work for us.
Most of us our employees but some of us are the ones who employ others, whether it is farm hands and laborers on ranches and farms or the staff of a small or large business we own. Those who own the ranch are naturally going to have the most wealth. That’s okay. But how do you treat the people who work for you or that you trade horses with? James wants us to live a life that reflects Jesus in us, not one that reflects those without a saving faith that are greedily pursuing their own sinful desires.
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