James 4:13-5:6

Do open your Bibles to James chapter 4.

James 4 · chapter mention

We'll pick it up at verse 13.

And before we get there, let's pray one more time.

!

Amen.

The 1942 film classic, Casablanca.

I wasn't there when it was first released.

But it opens with a voiceover.

If you've seen it, you'll know this.

It says this.

With the coming of the Second World War, many eyes in imprisoned Europe turned hopefully or desperately towards the freedom of the Americas.

The narrator then describes the journey that people took through France.

There's a little map that you can see and all of that.

And people went through France and across the Mediterranean through Casablanca where they had to wait before they moved further on.

But this is what we do when life is hard.

We look at others who seem to be thriving and we want what they have.

And we order our lives after that.

We head off in that direction.

When things get difficult, we look for a way out.

And this can be true in any area of life.

Work is hard.

Marriage is hard.

Relationships are hard.

And so we turn, hopefully or desperately in some cases, toward the freedom or perceived freedom of another option.

And of course, this moment in our culture, that is positively encouraged, isn't it?

Regardless of the consequences.

If you're not happy where you are or things aren't absolutely optimal, you're encouraged positively to go and look elsewhere regardless of the consequences.

That can also be true in the Christian life.

Especially in a world where being a Christian is viewed negatively.

When being a Christian is something that actually costs you in the context of life.

We find ourselves drawn to what we feel would be an easier, more comfortable, more straightforward, more fulfilling, it might seem, way of life.

And so we go quiet on our faith and we do what we're told in the workplace, no matter how compromised it makes us.

Or we adapt what we believe in order to accommodate what the culture is saying.

We'll do anything so that we're not ostracized.

So that things aren't unbearably difficult.

So that we don't fall the wrong side of the opinions of those whose opinions really matter to us.

If we can just change how we think and act, if we can just adopt the ways of the world around us, well the criticism then it dries up.

And when the criticism dries up, life gets a whole lot easier.

And we've studied this letter over the last couple of months.

We've seen that this is the mindset that James is challenging in his hearers.

If we could paraphrase our film, we might say this.

With the coming of Christ into the lives of these first believers and the opposition from the Jewish religious leadership that has followed,

many eyes in persecuted and scattered Christendom turned hopefully or desperately toward the freedom and recognition of the established religion.

That was the pull.

The pull was back to the old ways of Judaism.

And these Jewish zealots that are persecuting these Christians, making their life very difficult,

the trials that they are going through because of this, are trying to win them back.

Win them back to their cause.

And so what has happened is, many that James is writing to have adopted the same approach as the zealots.

So the zealots are going after them, persecuting them, making life difficult, haranguing them, giving them a hard time and all of that.

And James is saying that he sees this in the response of the Christians.

In their words and actions.

In the hope that they will be accepted.

They are trying to curry favor with the rich and influential religious leaders.

They are doing that also because they think that they can hold the two together.

They can be acceptable and they can achieve the righteousness of God.

They can fight the way the world fights and bring in the righteousness of God.

They are doing it on their terms.

And James has rebuked this behavior pretty directly up to this point.

If you have been with us, you will have heard him.

He does not pull his punches.

But this morning what we discover is that James is speaking to the opposition.

He is speaking to the opposing forces.

The Jewish oppressors.

It is a fascinating move.

The come now that opens verse 13.

Chapter 4 verse 13.

And again in 5.1.

They tie this section together.

James is using first of all a parable.

And then a prophecy directed towards the enemies of God's people.

And he is doing this as a warning to them.

They need to repent of their oppression.

But the fascinating thing is that James does this by speaking to these beleaguered Christians.

He gives them the parable and them the prophecy.

And what he is trying to do then is encourage them to stay the course.

Encourage them to endure with Christ no matter how painful it becomes.

He is trying to encourage them to see that it is worth it to keep going with Christ however difficult things get.

Because of where the alternative ultimately leads.

Sounds quite strange doesn't it initially when we hear that.

But this is actually a common method in the Old Testament with the prophets in the Old Testament.

So if you were to go to Isaiah chapter 13 verse 6.

Isaiah 13:6

God says this.

Wail for the day of the Lord is near.

It will come like destruction from the Almighty.

Sounds quite similar doesn't it?

Verse 1.

Weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.

Wail for the day of the Lord is near and destruction is coming.

Now in this case he is speaking to Babylon.

Who are oppressing God's people.

But he is saying these words to Israel.

The prophecy is to Israel about Babylon.

Babylon so that they would see what judgment was coming to those who rejected their God.

And the traitors in this parable in 4.13.

And the rich in 5 verse 1 are the same people.

And he isn't introducing just a new category here of rich people.

We've been meeting the rich all the way through the letter.

The rich are the same group that James has referred to throughout.

The Jewish ruling leaders who have rejected Christ.

Chapter 2.

And blasphemed his name.

2 verses 6 and 7.

So James' logic in the letter has been this.

He said initially to this group of beleaguered Christians.

Your trials are sent by God in order to mature your faith and make you more like Christ.

Therefore don't respond to them by getting angry and trying to play your opponents at their own game.

Instead, humble yourselves in repentance.

Return to God and trust that he will exalt you in the end.

That repentance will affect how you speak to and about other people.

Don't stand above the law of neighbor love in the context of the community.

Pursue unity.

And now he says,

And don't forget what God will do to those who oppose you.

He's saying don't forget the end of the story.

And so what he's doing is reminding us all this morning that walking away from obedience to Christ,

whether it's for the sake of an easier life or for the sake of success or acceptance,

even if you think that by doing that you're very clever and you are going to serve the advance of God's kingdom,

James is saying it's not worth it.

It's not worth it.

Don't go there.

Here's why.

Three reasons.

Number one, the Lord sees.

The Lord sees.

4.13

Come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make profit.

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.

It's like James is using a parable.

And he's describing God's enemies as traveling traders.

It's a picture that the Lord Jesus uses over and over again in the Gospels.

If you're familiar, he uses the image of business and trading and economic transaction in lots of his parables.

So Matthew 18.23

Matthew 21.33

Luke 16.13

Those who were authorized by the Sanhedrin to,

That's the context of the book of James.

Or chapter 9 verse 1 in the book of Acts.

Those who were authorized by the Sanhedrin to,

Bring any belonging to the way, that is, any who have become Christians, men and women, bound to Jerusalem.

Go and get them.

They've been scattered from Jerusalem.

Go and get them.

And if they won't renounce their Christian faith, bind them and bring them back to Jerusalem.

That's the context of James.

And what's happening then in this parable is,

These traveling men from Jerusalem are trying to reincorporate these new disciples of Jesus back into their apostate Jerusalem.

That is their prophet, so to speak.

The economic metaphor continues.

5 verse 3.

You have laid up treasure.

James says,

In the last days, behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you.

5 verse 5.

You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence.

You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

These leaders of old Israel have stored up for themselves the spiritual treasure of the gospel that they have been given.

They have also kept the gold and silver of the temple for themselves, verse 3.

They are rich in wealth because of that and in spiritual resources.

But instead of sharing those riches with others, as they were called to do,

instead of being a light to the world as they were called to be,

they oppress and they persecute the people of God and the Lord sees it all.

James is telling them what they have done.

The Lord knows.

He sees it.

They should have known that they are precarious.

Life is a mist, verse 14.

Their lives, they think they are so strong and yet he reminds them,

Your life is a mist, verse 14.

They should be asking whether the work that they do is really of the Lord, verse 15,

but instead they boast of their own strength.

Even though they have heard that Jesus is God's Messiah,

He is the Lord who has come,

even though they know that that is right, verse 17,

they serve themselves.

And the Lord sees it all.

James is warning the enemies.

But remember, apart from that one guy back in chapter 2,

mentioned with the robe and the ring who comes into their meetings,

the leaders of this persecuting regime are not necessarily going to hear what he's saying.

What he's doing here is reminding these oppressed Christians

that he understands what is going on.

And so when James is calling them to obedience,

when he is calling them to follow Christ and return to Him

rather than adopting the ways of their oppressors,

he isn't naive.

He knows how hard it is.

But more than that,

he is encouraging them that God sees what is happening

and God knows the arrogance of the powerful enemies of the church.

Whatever is going on in your life

in terms of opposition because you're a Christian,

the Lord sees it.

Nothing that the opponents of the church get up to

escapes the gaze of God.

But he doesn't just see.

Secondly,

the Lord judges.

Judges 5:1

5 verse 1,

Come now you rich,

weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.

Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.

Your gold and silver have corroded and their corrosion will be evidence against you

and will eat your flesh like fire.

You've fattened your hearts,

verse 5,

in a day of slaughter.

Now we've already seen that the rich in James,

as I said earlier,

aren't just people with a strong bottom line.

They are the ones who possess the ring and the robe that marks out their authority.

Chapter 2,

verse 2.

They are the ones who oppress this church and blaspheme Christ's name.

And here we are shown what James has already promised.

Do you remember back in chapter 1,

verses 9 to 11,

then these opponents will fade away in the midst of their pursuits.

This is how that will happen.

All of this imagery is Old Testament imagery of judgment.

The call to weep and wail echoes Isaiah 13, as I said.

Isaiah 14, it's there as well.

Isaiah 15.

They all speak like this when they promise the enemies of God's people that judgment is coming.

And the language of decay.

Do you notice that?

Your riches have rotted.

Your garments are moth-eaten.

That echoes Isaiah chapter 50, verse 9.

Isaiah 50:9

It says this,

Behold, the Lord God helps me,

who will declare me guilty.

Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment.

The moth will eat them up.

These are the words of the suffering servant in Isaiah chapter 50.

Isaiah 50 · chapter mention

And James is applying them then to these exiled believers.

He's saying both that they're walking the same path as the Lord Jesus Christ,

the suffering servant.

But also that just as God judged Christ's enemies,

so he will judge the enemies of Christ's people.

These opponents would have looked so impressive.

They had all the prestige.

They had all the cultural capital.

They had all the influence.

All the wealth of the temple at their disposal.

All the power and influence of a religious establishment.

It was a heady mix of religion and politics,

all exercised in the name of God.

It would have felt impregnable,

completely impregnable,

to James' scattered flock.

In fact,

in many ways,

this system was impregnable.

No one would have had the ability to challenge the authority

or make any headway in bringing about change.

But just as Jesus offered His own denunciation

in the Gospels of this system,

remember in Luke,

Luke 23,

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

Jesus says,

I send you prophets and wise men and scribes,

some of whom you will kill or crucify,

and some you will flog in your synagogues

and persecute from town to town.

Sounds like the parable just before.

Just as Jesus offered His denunciation of this group,

so James is doing the same.

Yet again,

we hear Him echoing the words of the Savior.

He's telling this beleaguered group,

remember what Jesus has said.

The leaders,

they were supposed to be a light to the world.

They were supposed to bring the gospel of Christ

to the nations.

They were supposed to bring out

and spread abroad

the riches of this good news.

But instead,

Israel opposed God's Son during His ministry,

and they are continuing to oppose His followers.

They have hoarded for themselves

these physical and spiritual blessings.

Verse 6,

They have even condemned and murdered

the righteous person.

Because of this,

the misery of God's judgment is coming to them.

Our context today is different.

The church in our day

doesn't face exactly the same

systemic opposition.

We do have a religious establishment.

We do have a state church

that at an institutional level

has put the treasure of the gospel

away somewhere

in a cupboard

or in a vault

or something like that.

It has forgotten

that it exists

for the sake of the world

and not for its own sake

as an institution.

And so the light of the gospel

doesn't shine as it should

and God will judge that.

As He will any church

that purports to be a church

but doesn't get the gospel out,

doesn't proclaim Christ and Him crucified,

keeps that gospel,

that richness,

the wealth

from others.

others.

God will also judge

every force

that stands against His church.

Every voice

that raises itself

arrogantly against His people

as they,

as you,

as we

seek to serve Him faithfully

wherever He has placed us.

So when the temptation comes

to step back from faithfulness

because the opposition

feels too intense.

It feels impossible

to you to do otherwise.

And look,

it is intense

when your job is on the line,

your means of providing

is on the line.

It is intense

when your children

are getting a hard time

at school for their faith

or when your church

gets its charitable status

revoked for hate speech

or when your PayPal account

gets shut down

because you hold extreme views

or you're not considered

for adoption

because you would raise

the child in the Christian faith.

The list could go on and on

in our day.

The temptation

to step back

from the cross-shaped

path of discipleship

when that is what it means

is significant.

So we have to remember

that that opposition

is on the clock.

It is time limited

and that time is ticking

and God will deal

with these opponents.

If we know

that that is where

we're headed,

if we know that

is what is going to happen,

don't choose to leave

the struggle

in the present

because it's quite simply

not worth it.

It isn't worth it

in the end.

Instead,

what must we do?

Well,

James tells us

we must lift our voices

to the Lord.

Cry out to Him

for mercy

because thirdly,

first,

the Lord sees.

Secondly,

the Lord judges.

Thirdly,

the Lord hears.

Behold,

the wages of the laborers

who mowed your fields

which you kept back

by fraud

are crying out against you

when the cries

of the harvesters

have reached the ears

of the Lord of hosts.

Again,

James is echoing

the language of Jesus.

I hope we've seen that

as a kind of melody

all the way through

this letter.

It's like He's saying,

remember what Jesus said.

You're in the midst

of what Jesus promised

was going to happen.

Remember what He said

about how to handle this.

Again,

it's the language

of laborers

and harvests

that Jesus used.

And again,

He has in view

spiritual labor

and spiritual harvest.

Remember,

when Jesus saw

the beleaguered crowds,

His heart was open

because they were like

sheep without a shepherd,

we're told.

And He said this,

the harvest is plentiful

but the laborers are few.

So pray earnestly

to the Lord of the harvest

to send out laborers

into the harvest.

Matthew 9.

And again,

in John 4,

He connects the work

of His disciples

in harvesting fields

when He says,

John 4.35,

Look,

I tell you,

lift up your eyes

and see that the fields

are white for harvest.

Already the one who reaps

is receiving wages

and gathering fruit

for eternal life

so that the sower

and reaper

may rejoice together.

That language from Jesus

is referring to the apostles

and the prophets

of the book of Acts,

that first wave of ministers.

And it is the cries

of these laborers,

these harvesters,

in the face of this opposition

and obstruction

by the Jewish leaders

that have reached the ears

of the Lord

of the heavenly armies.

There should have been

a harvest of souls

for these laborers

in the gospel.

But that harvest

has been held back

by the persecutors.

That activity itself

cries out to God,

verse 4.

Wages of the laborers

who mowed your fields

which you have kept back

by fraud

are crying out against you.

The Lord hears.

all the way through

the Old Testament

when God's people

are oppressed,

they would cry out

to Him

and He would deliver them.

Remember Genesis 4,

Genesis 4:10

verse 10,

Abel's blood

cried out to God.

Exodus chapter 2,

Exodus 2 · chapter mention

God's people

are in slavery

to Pharaoh

and what do the people do?

They cry out to God

and He remembered

His covenant

and He rescued them.

When James uses

language of the cries

of these marginalized Christians

having reached the ears

of the Lord of hosts,

He is connecting them

to the history

of the people of God.

He is connecting them

to the history

of a people

who when they cry

to their heavenly Father,

He hears

and He answers.

James is telling this group

in the face of all

of the impressive strength

of this ruling

religious establishment

that is pursuing them

in the name of God

and doing so so forcefully,

James is telling them

that they are

the true people of God.

That as they cry out,

they are connecting themselves

to the history

of God's people

and they are serving

God's true King,

the Lord Jesus Christ.

The one who is Himself,

the God who rescues His people

when they call on His name.

And the wonder is

that in less than 40 years

from James' writing here,

the Lord acted on those cries.

He saw what was going on

and He judged the nation.

These oppressors

who lived on the earth

in luxury

and in self-indulgence

have fattened their hearts

and the day of slaughter

came in AD 70.

The Roman armies

burnt Jerusalem to the ground.

They destroyed the temple.

As the symbol

of old Israel's rebellion.

Jesus promised this

in Matthew 24

and it came to pass.

Jesus kept His word

and He will keep it again

when He comes

to vindicate His people.

When He comes

to destroy His enemies.

When He comes

to rescue His church

from their suffering.

God hears His people.

God responds

when His people

call on His name.

When the pressure

of the negative world

threatens to squeeze us

into its mold.

Don't forget this.

God hears the cries

of His people.

God hears the cries of His people.

So don't step back.

Don't be fearful.

Call on the God

who hears

and who will answer.

God comes

where He's wanted.

Do you want Him?

Do you see it

as a priority

to call on Him

in the daily battles

for faithfulness?

Some days

it feels like

there are moment

by moment

these battles

for faithfulness

because the pressure

to give in

the pressure

to concede

just to go with the flow

for the sake

of not being

that person

those battles

can just come

like rapid fire

some days.

If we will make it

as Christians

in these days

we need to go

to new levels

of prayer.

We need to fight

to make it a habit

that gets so ingrained

in us

that it almost becomes

a part of who you are.

But above all

as we listen in

on James'

prophetic rebuke

here of the oppressors

of this scattered

community of saints

let it remind you

that the alternative

to faithfulness

is just not worth it

in the end.

It isn't.

Whether you're tempted

to retaliate

to the persecution

with the same anger

and hostility

as the world

or you look

hopefully

or desperately

to the apparent

freedom of another

way of life

remember that God

sees and He judges

those who turn

their back on Him.

He sees and He judges

those who reject

His Son

the Lord Jesus.

It's not worth it.

But also

take heart

be encouraged

that in the midst

of your struggles

God hears

the cries

of His people.

when you put

your faith

in the Lord

Jesus Christ

for salvation

you are united

to His beloved

Son

and the Lord

looks on you

with love

and acceptance

and He delights

to hear your voice.

So as He is

growing you

in Christ-likeness

on the path

of cross-shaped

discipleship

as He's making you

take up your cross

daily and follow

the Lord Jesus

as Jesus told us

is page one

of discipleship

it is essential

if we are going

to be faithful

disciples

that we die

to ourselves

and we follow Him

on that path

of self-denial

and He sends

trials into our lives

to enable us

to do that

to force us

to have to do that

more and more

and to draw us

to Him

as He is making

you more like Jesus

remember that

you can cry out

to Him

and just as He did

with the Lord Jesus

He will lead us

through the suffering

and one day

having made us

more like Christ

He will vindicate us

and justice will be done

and He will bring us

into the peace

and security

of glory

slow down

look up

and keep on

let's pray together