Cecil A. Fayard

Elliott Baptist Church

April 24, 2005

Fair and Balanced Financially

James 5:1-6

INTRO: Money can be a blessing or it can be a curse. In every area of lives, this includes money, we need to live by faith and we need to be fair and balanced in our actions with others. 

            God is not against you having things, but He is against things having you.

            Psalm 62:10 is good advice for all of us: "If riches increase, set not your heart upon them." How you handle what God gives you is a sign of your spirituality. This is seen in the lives 

    of Abraham and Lot. Abraham, a rich man, kept the faith and lived a life of character. Lot, who was also rich, compromised his character and destroyed his family.

            Proverbs 11:28, "He that trusteth in his riches fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch."

            How can the rich be fair and balanced in their actions toward those they employ? Instead of ripping off those who work for them, they can pay them for what they do. God loves a 

    just weight (Prov. 11:1).

            Friend, we are not to be selfish, we are not to live for self, we are to live for the Lord (II Cor. 5:15).

I. Vs 1, RICHES AND MISERY

        A. We do not think of riches and misery going together, but they do as James says.

        B. Riches do not make people happy.

                1. Ecclesiastes 5:10 "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase; this is also vanity.:

                2. I Timothy 6:9-10 tells us that the rich fall into temptation and snares; they pierce themselves with many sorrows.

                3. Knowing the Lord brings joy and peace to the rich and to the poor (Rom. 5:11; Philippians 4:7,9).

        C. The lost rich need to "weep and howl." Those who trust in riches and not in Christ will suffer the judgment of God in hell (Lk. 12:16-21).

                1. The Greek word for "howl" means "to shriek."

                2. This verse describes the tortures of the damned.

II. Vs 2-3, FALSE SECURITY

        A. Vs 2, In the east "garments" were wealth. Remember that Joseph gave changes of garments to his brothers (Gen. 45:22). Samson offered changes of garments to anyone that 

             could solve his riddle (Judges 14:12).

                1. We are not to lay up treasures on earth because moths will eat them (Mt. 6:19).

                2. The Bible says that we are to lay up treasures in heaven (Mt. 6:20).

        B. Vs 3, Those things that men count precious will decay. Barclay says: "The rust is proof of the impermanence and ultimate valuelessness of all earthly things. More, it is a dread 

             warning. The desire for these things is like a dread rust eating into men's bodies and souls" (116).

                1. In Luke 16:19-31, we have the story of the rich man in hell. Because he trusted in his riches and not in the crucified and risen Christ, he was burning in hell.

                2. Riches can not bring security.

III. Vs 4, BAD BUSINESS PRACTICES

        A. The charge is that the selfish ungodly rich have gotten their riches by cheating and injustice. They cheated those who gathered the crops.

        B. The Bible condemns the practice of abusing the poor.

                1. First of all, the Bible tells us that the laborer is worthy of his hire (Lk. 10:7, I Tim 5:18).

                2. Prompt payment of the laborer is emphasized in the scripture because the day laborer in Palestine lived day by day on the edge of starvation.

                            a. Deut. 24:14-15; Lev. 19:13; Prov. 3:27-28.

                            b. It is wrong to use people, to build with their blood, sweat, and tears and not pay them (Jere. 22:13).

IV. Vs 5, WORLDLY LIVING

        A. "Ye have lived in pleasure" means "to live in soft luxury" - "soft living which in the end saps and destroys a man's moral fiber" (Barclay 19).

                1. Warren Wiersbe says: "There is a great difference between enjoying what God has given us....and living extravagantly on what we have withheld from others" (148).

                2. I Timothy 6:17-18 tells the rich not to trust in uncertain riches.

                3. Luxury unchecked destroys character.

        B. "Wanton" is the Greek word spatalan meaning "to live in lewdness, to satisfy lust to the point of forgetting all duty to their fellow man."

        C. Sinful pleasure leads to grief, and ungodly luxury to death.

V. Vs 6, KILLING THE INNOCENT

        A. The rich religious and political leaders plotted the death of the just one, Christ.

                1. Peter preached of this in Acts 3:14-15.

                2. Stephen points the finger at the rich leaders who throughout time killed God's messengers even before the arrival of "the just one" (Acts 7:52).

        B. Christ suffered and offered no resistance (Isa. 53:7; I Pet. 3:18; I Pet. 2:23).

CONCLUSION: Whether we are rich or not, we need to be fair and balanced in our dealings.

For additional copies of the sermon CD's, please contact the church office:

Elliott Baptist Church
566 Nat G. Troutt Road
Elliott, Mississippi 38901
Phone: 662-226-4425
Pastors Email: cecilafayard@msn.com