James 5:1-6

“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. 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. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.” James 5:1-6 ESV

“You rich, weep and howl…” is an interesting start to this chapter! James offers a strong warning to the rich. To “weep and howl” is a phrase typically found in the Old Testament prophets to describe the response of the wicked when the day of the Lord’s judgment arrives. The phrase always invokes a sense of condemnation and punishment handed out by God.

“Your riches, your garments, and your gold and silver are corroded and rotted.” In James’ era, these would have been the main categories of wealth, in which riches represent crops and livestock. However it was you hoarded wealth, it is now destroyed and utterly useless.

What are the sins of the rich that James highlights for judgment? There are three areas where wealthy landowners or businessmen have acted wickedly and incurred judgment:

First, “You have laid up treasure in the last days.” They have selfishly hoarded wealth - this is wrong not only because it demonstrates utterly false priorities, but also because it deprives others of the very necessities of life.

Secondly, “The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you”. The wealthy in this instance are cheating their employees, which is clearly forbidden in the scriptures (Deuteronomy 24:14-15). This links back to James’ words at the end of the previous chapter, “Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (4:17).

Thirdly, “You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence.” The pursuit of a luxurious lifestyle that is selfish and unconcerned about the needs of others is a sin. Accumulating and wasting resources on your own self-indulgence, while ignoring the poor, invokes the judgment of God.

How do we live as kingdom people? We do not misuse or hoard wealth. We pay our workers their wages and treat them well. As employers and employees, we conduct ourselves with integrity. We are concerned about other people and share with them out of our abundance.