I’ve been a preacher for almost 9 years and a pastor for almost 6 years – one thing I learned over the years… reminders, no matter how gentle or how careful we are… it’s so hard to keep an open mind, people still get offended somehow. Especially when it’s a form of rebuke or comment, sometimes the initial reaction of the person is – who said that? I didn’t do anything! Rather than focusing on the issue – they are either defensive or they focus on the person giving them the comment and not on the issue itself. And worst – they get angry with the messenger. Listen to this -- the pastors are usually the messenger, bala sa kanyon – in English, cannonball! Or worst – wrecking ball! Pastor, you know, bro. so and so or sister so and so – offended me. Can you talk to her? Can you tell her I’m offended? Pastors are also used to scare kids – oh ayan na si Pastor, lagot ka?
Over the years, I have learned my lesson as a pastor. Nowadays, if you come to me like that and you have issue with someone… most likely the first thing I will ask you is this: Have you talked to the person? Have you followed Matthew 18?
The Apostle James concluded his epistle in Chapter 5 with some very important reminders. We learned in the past few sermons that the Apostle James wrote this epistle mainly to believers, to Christians. We also learned that James was not among the original disciples, he was the earthly brother of Jesus Christ and he was pivotal to the early church because originally he did not believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah not until the resurrection. James became one of the key leaders of the early church in Jerusalem.
Let’s read James, Chapter 5 verses 1 to 20:
The obvious context of this last Chapter is about the Christians who were being persecuted most likely by the Romans during that time. James had to write these reminders and at the same time provide words of comfort to the believers.
Whenever I read something about suffering or persecution or trials experience by followers of Jesus, I’m reminded of this quote from Rick Warren. He said:
Really? God does not want me to be happy? God does not want me to be comfortable? Well, that’s not what this quotation says. If I will rephrase this, I would say --- IF HAPPINESS WILL COMPROMISE OUR HOLINESS, IT’S BETTER NOT TO BE HAPPY AT ALL.
IF BEING COMFORTABLE WILL COMPROMISE OUR GODLY CHARACTER, THEN GOD WOULD RATHER NOT MAKE US COMFORTABLE.
I noticed that Chapter 5 was basically divided into three parts:
The whole chapter was devoted to encouragement and comfort to believers who are oppressed, who are persecuted, who are sick – whether physically or spiritually.
Let us look at the first part, verses 1 to 6.
God’s stern warning towards rich oppressors. (v1-6)
First of all, before you react – please take note of the sub-heading, if you are using the NIV. It says there: Warning to the Rich Oppressors. James did not say, warning to the rich people. He said “rich oppressors.” It totally changes the picture.
God is not angry with the rich per se but to those who oppressed the poor
There’s nothing wrong with being rich. There are a lot of Bible characters who have served the Lord well who are rich: Abraham was rich. Joseph was rich. David was rich. There is nothing wrong with being rich. What James is trying to warn here are the rich oppressors. I also believe that the rich people that James was talking about here –
These rich people are most likely unbelievers
First, he did not call them brothers and sisters. He only started using Brothers and Sisters in verse 7. Let me show you (show slide no. 2 and 3). James have expressed his rebuke to the rich oppressors at that time as his words of comfort to the oppressed believers, or to the poor. So according to James --
Why is God angry with the rich oppressors?
Two things:
Because of how they acquired their wealth (v4)
Because of how they used their wealth (v5-6)
He said in verse 4: 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!
So the rich became rich because they are cheating their workers, they are not paying them fair and square. This was how they acquired their wealth – through cheating and they are taking advantage of others.
How did they use their wealth? Verse 5-6 says: 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.
So they used their wealth to murder innocent people, they used their wealth for their own luxury and self-indulgence. During this time, there were lots of rich Jews like those tax collectors and they connive with the Romans in order to oppress their fellow Jews especially those who were following Christ. They were not using their wealth to bless other people.
We are not just talking here of the super-rich and famous like Jim Pattison or Bill Gates If you go to a very poor country, I would say 90% of us here, or ever 100% of us here will be considered rich by their own standards. Of course if you compare yourself to Jim Pattison or Bill Gates, we are far way below the wealth scale.
Matthew 6:20 says “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on 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 and steal.”
The rich people of Jerusalem who had oppressed their Christian brethren literally “weeped and howled” as described by James during the siege of Jerusalem in AD70 because they lost everything they had accumulated. In our time today, a lot of people are accumulating wealth for their retirement, they are paying life insurance left and right…they are saving for their future at the expense of their present life. They work so much even at the expense of their quality time with their family. Ironically, some people who have stored so much… they even die before they retire. If we store up treasures in heaven, if we do good things to others, if we bless others with our abundance, we can bring these things even when we die because God will ultimately reward us in heaven.
The second part of Chapter 5 is verses 7-12. It’s about –
God’s gentle reminder to be patient and to persevere in the midst of suffering. (v7-12)
He said --
Be patient, like a farmer waiting for his field to yield valuable crops.
He said be patient, stand firm – because the Lord is coming soon. James is reminding the believers like you and me – yes, I know you are being persecuted – in your neighborhood, in your office because of you faith. People laugh at us. People mock us. People treat us unfairly. But we have to be patient. We have to stand firm because time will come the Lord will vindicate us. If we live our lives giving glory to the Name of Jesus, we know that one day, Jesus will return and at that time, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord of all.
James said if we should ---
Persevere in the midst of suffering. God will bless us if we do.
James said in verse 11 – As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
James made an example of an Old Testament character named Job. Most of us know what happened to Job. He was a righteous man, who was stripped of everything he owned – his wealth, his family, his health because God wanted to test his faith and since he persevered in the midst of suffering, God has blessed him in the end. In fact, Job did not sin even in the midst of suffering. He said “naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked I will depart.”
Come to think of it – when we were born to this world, we didn’t own anything. We’re naked. We’re nothing. And when its time for us to leave this world, we cannot take anything as well. God owns everything. So if in His own divine will, He takes away something from us – it is God’s prerogative because He owns everything in the first place.
Sometimes we make the mistake of having that mindset that we own something – we own our property, we own our intelligence, we own our family – and that if something was taken from us, we cry UNFAIR! God why did you take my family? God why did you take my job? God why did you take my health? Well.. we don’t own any of those things in the first place. God has the right to take any of those things from us. We are just stewards. We are just caretakers. God allows us to suffer sometimes, just like Job, because He wants to test our faith. Since we’re talking about testing and we have talked about rich people earlier… it reminds me of the story of the rich young ruler who came to Christ.
He came to Christ and asked – Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Jesus replied “ go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” The rich young ruler refused to do it and he went away sad. Jesus wasn’t not against him being rich. It’s his attachment to his riches that is the problem.
His relationship with Christ is being hindered by his attachment to his riches. That’s where the problem is. If he followed Christ – say he wholeheartedly obey and sold his possessions to the poor – maybe he’s not done anything yet and God is already providing a solution. The important thing is – he passed the test. But unfortunately, he did not. Remember what happened to Abraham when God asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah? When Abraham was about to thrust the knife towards Isaac, God provided a RAM caught in the bushes as sacrifice.
Another interesting verse that we read was in verse 12. It says there -- Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.
So James is basically saying –
Do not swear. Let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no.
Oh how we love to swear sometimes. This is not the kind of swear that we know of ha? The bad word swear kind of thing. No, this is more like taking an oath.
“I swear to God, hope to die!” I am telling the truth!
C’mon! Do we really have to say that? Does swearing make our statement more truthful? Or more believable? Sometimes we hear people, I swear! Mamatay man ang asawa ko! Aba pati asawa idinamay?
You know what Jesus said about swearing in Matthew 5:37 --
All you need to say is simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
When you say YES, that’s it. People should believe you. Even if you swear, if you have no credibility because you are always breaking your promise, no one will believe you. We usually hear this from celebrities: I swear! Kumapal ang buhok ko! There’s even a song -- And I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky --
I'll be there! What does the moon and the stars have anything to do with you being there? It makes no sense right?
The third part of Chapter 5 is about –
James said - Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
In verse 14, why call the “elders?”
The answer is in verse 16 “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
The elders of the church are assumed to be righteous!
God wants us to praise Him through songs of praise when we’re happy and He wants us to pray when we are sick – I believe the sickness in this passage is first and foremost physical but then it could also be spiritual. This is in view of the phrase “and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. The Jewish people believe that if a person has committed sins, physical sickness is also being manifested. Those who are sick as asked to call the elders. During those times, anointing of oil could be a practical and medicinal way to heal a lot of diseases. In addition, anointing of oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit who has the capacity to heal any disease.
Life Lesson #3:
It is easy to forget God when we’re happy. It is easy to forget to thank the Lord when everything goes well. But if we have problems, like health problems, if we are a sick with a serious disease – oh I am pretty sure, we will pray. James said, praise God when you’re happy. Pray when you are sick!
CONCLUSION:
The book of James can be summarized in 2:17.
- In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
This is what we have developed as our theme for our sixth anniversary.
I used hashtag because in social media, hashtag is placed beside a keyword so that keyword can be easily searched or identified.
I placed hashtag alongside faith@work because the people around us can identify if our faith is genuine or not -- mainly through our work.
The best evidence of our genuine faith is the work that we do for the Lord.
The Bible says you can tell a tree by its fruit. I believe Richmond church, on our sixth anniversary must earn a reputation and we must be known for people with genuine faith in Christ as evidenced by what we do and not by what we say.
Do we practice what we preach?
Jesus said the world will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. Do we show our love for one another?
Do we walk the talk?
Paul said in 1st Corinthians 13 --
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is an action word. We prove that our faith is genuine if we show love for others.
Is our faith at work?
Let another person tell you that it does.
Prayer
Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:
Father God, I confess all my sins to you today. Please forgive me. Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ. I accept Him in my life as my Savior and as my Lord. May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.
The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC Richmond during its service on
Sunday, November 8, 2015
I apologize if there are grammatical and spelling errors. I also apologize if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any. as it is purely unintentional.
If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website at:
www.wordchristiancommunity.com
