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1 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; you have murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
We've already seen that this was a temptation for the congregation James originally addressed to envy the wicked rich. See James 2:1–7. And it's just as much a temptation for us! But if you do envy the wicked rich, what are you envying? "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 have laid up treasure in the last days" (vv. 1–3).
Before he knows it, the rich sinner will be in hell! Jesus told a story in Luke 16:19–26 — "There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' "
Why did the rich man go to hell? It wasn't because he was rich. Wealth itself is not a sin. Sin doesn't come from things; it comes from hearts. Sin comes in how you get your wealth—do you get it at the expense of your neighbor or in a godly, productive way? Sin comes in your heart-attitude toward wealth—do you love and trust the Lord or do you love and trust that worldly wealth? Sin comes in what you do with your wealth—do you dedicate it to the glory of God and the service of others or do you dedicate it to the exaltation of self?
Wealth itself is not a sin. At the same time, it is often an occasion for sin. There is nothing like wealth to make it hard to enter the kingdom of God. It dulls your sense of spiritual urgency. It makes you forget the reality of divine judgment. I believe that this is one of our great problems in the church here in the U.S.A. God has blessed us so tremendously. But our sin is such that we tend to grasp the gifts and forsake the Giver. This is sin! And our Lord warns that eternal condemnation in hell awaits those who worship and serve mammon rather than God!
Click here for background on the author of Are You For Real?: Meditations in the Epistle of James for Secret or Family Worship.
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