Do open your Bibles to James chapter 4.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
verse 10,
Abel's blood
cried out to God.
Exodus chapter 2,
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