SPEAKER_00 0:01

This morning, Pastor Wade leads us into the fifth and final chapter in the book of James. Join us in examining the scriptures as we look at the power and peril of money.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Church, this morning we are talking about money again. It's kind of a continuation from last week's uh passage. And I have retitled my sermon for today to The Power and Peril of Money. Money exerts a certain power or a certain influence over our hearts and over our lives. And money is dangerous. Yeah. And believe it or not, money more is not better. Right? More is not better. And I'm sure a lot of people can't wait to disagree with me on that. Many of us, I find myself thinking this way as well, but many of us think we can always have more money, right? But because the more we have, the more we can do, the more secure and at peace we'll be, the less worry we will have in life. And so maybe let me just open with this question for us to hold on to throughout this sermon. Next slide, please, which is how much money is enough? How much do you need? How much do you want? How much does it take to have enough to be secure, to be contented with life? I want to just want you to just hold on to that question throughout this whole sermon. And then now we come to the passage. In James chapter 5, verses 1 to 6. This this morning, this is a difficult passage, right? It is very harsh in its tone towards those who want more and more and more. And James takes on a prophetic tone here. He indicts and he speaks against the rich landowners of his time. And I know most of us are not landowners, but I guarantee you that this passage is still relevant for us today. And there are many important lessons for us. So let's just jump straight into it. In James 5, verse 1, we read, James telling the rich, come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries they are coming upon you. James called the rich to come to weep and howl, like you have just lost your family. Weep and howl like you have just been struck by a disaster. Cry with deep agony because they have been judged by God and miseries, misery upon misery are coming upon them. James here is looking forward to the day of the Lord, the judgment day, where we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And let's be clear on one point James does not condemn the rich. Right? So we can be you know a bit more relaxed here. James does not condemn the rich for being rich. He condemns the rich because they were achieving wealth unjustly. And he was condemning also the misuse of wealth. So why is James indicting the rich in his letter? Right? There are three things that testify against the rich and that testify against us today. The first thing is the hoarding of wealth. Right? The first issue with the rich is that they were hoarding, well, verse 2 and 3, I will read this quickly: your riches have rotted, your garments are morph-eaten, your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidenced against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid out treasure in the last days. And so James James is intimidating that, intimating that they were not just saving money. They were not just saving up. The Bible does encourage encourage us to be prudent and to save. So, for example, if you read uh Proverbs chapter 6, verses 6 to 8, uh Solomon asks you to come to the end, oh sluggard. Consider the ways of the end, right? How she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How she saves up food for winter.

unknown 4:31

Right?

SPEAKER_01 4:31

But what these rich people were doing was beyond saving. They were hoarding, they were storing up more and more when they have more than enough already. And the Bible speaks against accumulating and hoarding wealth when it becomes excessive and pointless, especially given that they were a living in the last days. Right? On our side, they still had their riches, their clothing were intact, their gold and silver wouldn't corrode. I mean, we all know, right? Gold does not corrode. Silver is very resistant to corrosion. But in the sight of God, they have become rubbish, useless, decay. In the last days, these rich people will bring their heaps of rotten riches, moth-eaten clothes, and corroded gold and silver, and God will heap judgment upon them. If you're planning to go on a two-week vacation, will you be stocking up your fridge with fresh meat and produce? Right? Would it make sense for you to go to Xinchong today, buy fruit, vegetables, pork, chicken, fish, store up all of them in your fridge, and then go on your holiday tomorrow? That will be foolish, right? And it is the same situation here. The rich have done a foolish thing. They have laid up treasure in the last days, and very soon all their riches will be worthless, and worse, a judgment against them. All their riches will be a testimony against them. We have all heard the of the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12. I'm I think it would have been uh mentioned last week. Um, and just kind of read it out very quickly for us. Um, Jesus tells of this uh parable, right? The land of a rich man produced plentiful, and he thought to himself, What shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I'll do this, I'll tear down my bonds and build larger ones, and there I'll store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, drink, uh, eat, drink, and be merry. And God said to him, Fool, this night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? Soul is the one who lays out treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. And there are a few important points, right? Number one, we are told that he was already rich, right? The land of a rich man.

unknown 7:07

Right?

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Number two, he could have done some good with his overabundance, right? Give them to the needy or do something else. Instead, he chooses to tear down his existing bonds to build larger ones so that he can store more and more and more for his own enjoyment. And number three, um, interestingly, this parable was said in the context of a dispute of uh of an inheritance claim between two brothers, to which the point Jesus was making to them then was to take care and be on your guard against all covetousness. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. One's life does not uh consist in the abundance of his possessions. And there are really a few things to unpack there, but the most relevant point for us this morning is that life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions. But we love to amass possessions, right? Whether in the form of money, whether in the form of investments or precious metals, material goods like clothes, bags, shoes, watches, and and and all this for our enjoyment. And I know what some of you are thinking, yes, I know. Like when I look at the my guitar collection, um is it just uh uh an innocent hobby or is it hoarding of riches and possessions? And and I'll be frank with you, I I I I do struggle with this after preparing for this sermon. I really am struggling with this. Um and I don't have a good answer uh yet. Um but but we have to struggle with questions like this, right? All the things that we possess, all the things that we have in our life. Are we just amassing and hoarding things? Because there is a difference between having savings or having uh, I would think, a collection of items as a hobby and being overly indulgent and hoarding our possessions. The Bible does not draw a very clear line, but that doesn't mean we just forget about it, right? James calls us to examine our lives on this matter. And I'll have a bit more to say about this later, but for now we see that the first problem with the rich in James 5 is that they were hoarding wealth, and that was a testimony against them. Just as it will be a testimony against us when we hoard riches. Uh, their second problem then is that they were gaining wealth wrongfully, they obtained riches by defrauding poor and needy workers. And we see that in verse 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mould 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. Um, a little context will be helpful. Uh, at that time, many worked as day laborers, right? They would be hired out to work at a farm, at a vineyard, and they will receive their wage at the end of the day, right? Uh so they were just day laborers. Uh, if you remember Jesus' parables of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew uh 20, that is set against a very real societal backdrop. The workers who worked in the vineyard would expect pay at the end of the day. Um I used to work as a part-time waiter at Sheraton Hotel. And we were paid daily, we were not paid like weekly or monthly. Every day, after adding out my shift, I'll go to this office and I'll collect. I I vaguely remember that it is $44.70. And they'll staple the notes together in one bottle for us. And I just reflect reflect on that period. No, if they end up not paying me, um, it won't be the end of the world.

unknown 10:47

Right?

SPEAKER_01 10:47

I have my parents to rely on. Uh, I'm sure there's some recourse where I can pursue the matter. And what's the worst that can happen to me? Stop working wrong, right? Don't work for them anymore. There was a luxury, a sort of luxury as a part-timer, uh, doing things for extra cash. But for the people here in James chapter 5, they had no such luxury. Right? The daily wage was very important. And they were barely getting by. They're relying on the money at the end of the day to put food on the table for another day. And the law in the Old Testament uh made provision to protect them in Deuteronomy chapter 24, verses 14 and 15. Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns. Right? Uh here this pay him his wages daily before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise, he may cry to the Lord against you and you will be guilty of sin. And the rich landowners did precisely that. They took advantage of the hired men and defraud them of their daily wage. And the way James puts it is very interesting. The wedge the wages that they were withholding became a weakness against them, right? If you read uh verse 4, it says the wages are crying out against you. The very money that you're reholding, that you're leaving it in your treasury, that you're leaving in your bank, it is crying out against you. And reminds us of something that happened all the way back in Genesis when the blood of Abel cried out against his murderer Cain. And today companies, business owners continue to defraud workers or they find ways to gain money in an unjust manner. Just a few days ago, if you didn't know this, Pope Francis uh visited Singapore. Right, and he in his state address, he called for fair wages for migrant workers in Singapore. In Singapore, and we Singaporeans, we rely so much on migrant workers, right? Whether it's domestic helpers or in construction, in sea, um, we uh in shipyard, in shipyard, we rely on migrant workers so much. And yet they are often treated poorly and unjustly. Um other news, scams have been on the rise these past few years, and it's been on the rise for a long time now. And they're getting cleverer with their tricks, right? And there's still so many other ways to earn profit the wrong way, right? Like finding loopholes or cheating the system to hire foreign workers so you don't have to pay uh as much as you would to a local citizen. Um and okay, this is a very small thing. Just just this morning I went to buy Kopisi. Uh and and when when I came to church, I realized hey, the the the guy gave me $2 extra because the notes were wet, they got stuck, he gave me $2 extra, you know. And and in the past, I would probably think, oh, tan tio, uh, uh I don't know how to translate in English, right? Uh I got it, what? Lucky me, right? Just keep $2 only anyway. Right? Um, but I told I told I told Beth, hey, please, please keep me accountable. We need to go go to the coffee shop later to return the money. Um, even a small thing like that, right? How do we gain our money? How do we obtain our wealth? Scripture tells us that the ill-gotten money and the cries of the suffering workers testify against those who commit the injustice. And as an as an aside, if there are people here this morning who are the ones who are suffering or have suffered, or you have been defrauded, you have been scammed and cheated, know that God is on your side. And as Paul writes in Romans 12, verse 19, leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, and I will repay, says the Lord. The Lord sees your plight, the Lord hears your crime, and the Lord will repay what is due. So, firstly, the things we are hoarding will testify against us. Secondly, the money we obtained unjustly and the people we defrauded will testify against us. And lastly, our lifestyle will testify against us. Verse 5 says, You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. Uh, this is a question of how the rich use their money, right? There are two ways, two wrong ways to use it, right? The first we have just seen, hoard it, let it rot. Right? The second way is to use it purely for self-indulgence, to live in luxury, especially when there are poor and needy people amongst us. And this is an echo of Ezekiel chapter 16, verse 49. Uh, read it out very quickly. Behold, this was the guilt of Sodom. She and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but not did not eat the poor and needy. And again, our Lord Jesus has a fitting parable for this situation in Luke chapter 16, verses 19 to 31. Uh, we read about the rich man and Lazarus. I will not read out the whole parable, um, but we can we we read from 19. There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and who feasted sumptuously every day. At his gate was laid uh was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sauce, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. And so we can presume that the rich man didn't feed him, right? Even the food that fell from the table, it was not given to Lazarus. Uh we are told then later on the two of them died. Um the poor man was brought up uh by the angels to Abraham's side in heaven, and the rich man died, uh was buried, and then he went to Hades and was torment in torment, right? And he was asking Father Abraham, can you ask Lazarus to just give me a bit of water? Right? And Abraham said this to the rich man child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus, in like manner, bad things. And maybe James had this in mind when he indicted the rich for stuffing themselves when there are the poor and hungry amongst them. They could have used their riches to feed others, but they have fattened themselves up to be slaughtered on judgment day. And so, because of these three things, their hoarding, fraud, and self-indulgence, uh, in verse 6 they we read that they have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He did not resist you. And um it's a bit um there there are two different interpretations on this, but I think for now we can say that James probably had in mind the practical outcome of the actions of these rich people, right? Because of what they did, uh withholding money, cheating, and all the poor man is starved to death. And so we see even today for us, our hoarding, uh, the way we earn money and the way we indulge in luxury are testimonies against us. We see in today's passage that uh riches can be detrimental to us when not handled faithfully and properly, right? And really the major takeaway, the the major implication for us this morning is that we have to be careful with wealth, right? Or to be more accurate, we have to be careful with our desire for wealth, right? It is difficult to be rich and faithful. Right? We don't want to believe Jesus on this, but it is true, it is difficult to be rich and faithful. We have just looked at two of Jesus' parables against the rich. And Jesus even says it outright in Matthew chapter 19, verses 23 and 24. He says this, truly I say to you, only with great, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. It is difficult to be rich and faithful. Riches has a way of just sucking us in into a downward spiral. And in Jesus' parable of the soul, he kind of explains it, right? He he describes a condition of our hearts that is like the soil filled with taunt.

unknown 20:05

Right?

SPEAKER_01 20:05

And he says this we will hear the word of God, but in verse 19 of uh Mark 4, but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for many things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Right? Money has the power to corrupt our affections, our loves, our desires. The more and the more we love money, the more we are choked up by wealth, by wealth and by possessions, and the more we want to hoard and cheat and self-indulge, to gain by all means necessary, and to spend for ourselves. And so again, let me reiterate the Bible does not condemn money, but it condemns the love of money, which which is what many of us fall into a covetousness, uh uh inordinate desire for wealth. Um, and so in 1 Timothy chapter 6, verses 6 to 10, um, I want to read out uh to us what Paul says godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing with this we will be content. What a what a strong statement here and a difficult one to to swallow. If we have food and clothing with this, we will be content. But those who desire to be rich, so not those who are rich, but those who desire to be rich, fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. Verse 10 for the love of money, again, not that money is the problem, but the love of money is. Root of all kinds of evils, it is through this craving that many have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. Right at the beginning of the sermon, I asked, How much is enough? And I don't know whether you have a figure in your head, I don't know if you have something in your mind, right? But how much is enough? How much do you need? How much do you want? Um someone uh I mean I read this joke on the uh internet. How many guitars does uh one person need? Uh just one more, right? And how much money do we need? Maybe just a bit more. Maybe just a bit more. Let me hit the next milestone, right? Let me hit the next uh uh financial milestone and then I'll be done. Um a recent survey done in the US found that nearly 70% of millionaires in US don't feel wealthy. Let me say that again. Nearly 70% of millionaires in the US feel that they are not wealthy. Um in the past, so many people, in the past at least, feel that uh if you hit the million dollar mark, you would have made it in life. Right? I I don't know what's the like last time maybe hit the first million by age 50, by 40. I think now nowadays people are talking, oh, is it possible to hit a million by 30? Um and the funny thing is so many millionaires feel like they haven't made it, that they are still anxious, still struggling, still not wealthy. And there are several reasons, the uh tax, high cost of living, and so on. But one of the reasons given was simply because the more money they have, the more they spend and the costlier their lifestyle becomes. And long ago, the preacher has already flagged the trap of wealth out in Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verse 10. He says this he who loves money will not be satisfied with money. Nor he who loves wealth with his income. We think wealth will make us happier, more satisfied, even more generous. We think wealth will make us better people. Right? If anything, it numbs us to its danger, it numbs us and our conscience. So we don't even look outward anymore. All we do is just look inward. It doesn't make us happier, it doesn't make us satisfied. It doesn't even make us more generous. We just look inward, and all we care about is ourselves. How much we have, how do we get more, and what can I splurge on next? And as Paul says, then we wander away from the faith and pierce ourselves with many pangs. And so James today is telling us we have to handle wealth with care because it is a question of desire, and and and because it is a question of desire and love, we have to be careful in the first sense. We have to examine ourselves and where our hearts is today, right? And the most basic question is this what do we love? Or who do we love? God or money? What how we answer that question will determine how we will live our lives? Or maybe maybe put it another way, how we live our lives is the answer to that question, right? In our pursuit of career, uh, our financial decisions uh for ourselves, for our children, right? What does that reflect on our heart? What does that show? Right? What is that testifying about our lives? Right? Not that it is wrong to have high-paying jobs. It's okay to have high-paying jobs, right? Some jobs you will just pay higher, right? You you can't you can't run away from it. Um but it is a question of whether high-paying job is our top criterion in life. Right? So much so that it affects the way we think about uh studies, uh, our career, even our children. Uh, next time you grow around, you must do this, you must do this, you must do this, right? So that you go to this university, you study this, you study this, then you you get this job, uh, then everything will be will be secure, everything will be good. Right? If we let money become the driving force of our decision making, then it reflects uh a certain attitude, a certain love for money. If we if we desire God, I I today He's calling us to treat wealth in a particular way that may not make sense to the prevailing culture, right? It may blow your mind with some of the things that I'm about to say. Okay. Um again, the the Bible does not draw a clear line between saving and hoarding, right? It doesn't draw a clear line between uh enjoyment and excessive self-indulgence. But that does not mean we just forget about it. I mean the Bible never says, right? The Bible never says I can only have 10k in my bank or only 100k in my bank or and so on, right? The Bible does not draw a clear line, but it does not allow us to just uh not care about it either. Yeah? If anything, the word of God presses us to deal with wealth faithfully in our particular situation and to draw the line ourselves in obedience to God. Uh Timothy Keller has this to say when he preached on James 5, um, and I think it's pretty radical. Um see what you think about it, right? But often when our pay increase, our standard of living increases, right? It is a normal thing, it's a natural thing. We have more money, we can afford more, then we will live a better life, right? Um I think to a point, Keller is right. He says that for the Christian, that must not be the case. He says this, our standard of living shouldn't be going up as fast as our income. Right? Uh he says this the more you earn, the greater the distance there must be between the way you live and the way you are capable of living. Does it make sense? If you're you if your if your salary goes up, you are more capable of living, uh a higher standard of living. And Keller says um it can your your standard of living should not be rising uh in tandem, pace for pace, right, with your income. The more you earn, the greater the distance there must be between the way you are living now and the way you are capable of living. And it goes on to challenge, you know, the the when we have more, right, we have more to give away and we should use that for God's purposes. And so this leads me to my final thing. If the first is to be careful and to examine our lusts, our desires, our heart. The second is to be careful with our financial planning, right? And this is the last thing I'll say about this. Um, and this is homework for us all, okay, myself included. We'll do some financial planning at home today. Yeah, at night uh and at the end of the day when we when we do our quiet time, we pray to God. Um we we do cuts, we all do financial planning, right? We make sure we're in the black with our income and expenditure, uh, how much we spend, we spend on what, we track all these things, we make sure we are we are we are we're good, right? Um it is something you will especially want to do with your significant other or with your spouse, you know, make sure you know financially, both of us, we are, we are we are we are on line, we are in we are in line, we are in alignment, and and and so on, right? Um let me ask you this question. In your financial planning, have you ever sat down to discuss how much you want to set aside monthly to be given away, right? In your financial planning, have you ever sat down to ask yourself or to ask your spouse, how much do we want to set aside for giving? And I'm not talking about tithing, uh, tithing is a separate thing, right? So after tithing, bills, savings, how much have you intentionally set aside to be given away? Uh someone someone said this, uh, I think it's attributed to this guy called P.T. Barnum. Money is a terrible master but a wonderful servant. Money is a terrible master but a wonderful servant. John Calvin says this God has not appointed gold for rust, nor garments for moths. But on the contrary, he has designed them as aids and helps to human life. If hoarding, cheating, and self-indulgence are testimonies against us, then giving money is a testimony of our faith in God and our desire to do his will. So, do we do financial planning in that way? Um, I'll be honest with you, I have never had this conversation with Beth before. Uh we kind of talk about a bit about, you know, maybe there's this this or that thing that we kind of support, uh, world vision here and there. But we never had a serious conversation. With the money that we have, do we set aside some to be to be given away? I think we should have such conversations and and really honestly evaluate how much we can give away based on our means. Um and so let me just say this. If you're in debt, if you're struggling with uh with making ends meet, then maybe now is not the time. All right? Let me just be clear. If you are really, really struggling, you know, you don't have to have this conversation right now, right? Um but if you're doing well, you have disposable income, income that you either put in the bank or people tell you put in investment, right? Consider setting aside a portion for giving. In learning to give away, we see the grip of money slowly loosening around our hearts. That's when we grow in generosity, right? And that's where we grow in our love for others. And you may be wondering it uh where we can give to, right? Um I mean, I think earlier this month we just announced the whole education uh mission fund uh to help fund the chaplaincy work. I became a Christian through chaplaincy work, right? Um and to me that's something meaningful. Although, I mean that that happened through a Presbyterian church in the Presbyterian school, and I happened to become Anglican instead, right? But but the the the point is, you know, uh I became Christian through that route. You know, chaplaincy work may be something you want to consider. Um there are many organizations out there that are looking into welfare of migrant workers, right? Um, and or world vision as I as I mentioned, or health serves. There are many different places where we can put our money to good use. So let's consider that. Uh and I didn't know time was uh running out. Uh so let me just um end with the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verses 6 to 8. He says this the point is this whoever sows sparingly will also read sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver, and God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. Having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. And so let me conclude by saying that in these last days, right? In these last days, while we await the return of Jesus, let us be very careful about the power and peril of money. Right? Let us examine our hearts, affections, and desires, and let us confess if in our love for money, we have hoarded, we have cheated, and we have indulged excessively in luxury. And let us plan our finances, let us uh learn to give away our wealth to help others, and let us learn to give away as our worship and as our sacrifice unto the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

We pray that you can minister to the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about the Eastern Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.