Dishonesty
James 5:4 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.
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 were dishonest! You have it to pay! You own this land and hired these people! It’s not that you didn’t have the money, you just didn’t pay them. You were dishonest, you defrauded them, you stole from them. What’s the response? They are crying out, so upset, so frustrated because you’re cheating them, you know you should have paid somebody and didn’t, and you took that money to buy more stuff for yourself. That decision makes an impact on so many lives, because you’re not doing what you agreed to do.
What would happen then – and even now – some of us are manual laborers, some of you have told me how you were out digging a trench in the ice cold last winter, and the boss took some time off, went down to sunnier weather, and oh by the way, doesn’t have the money to pay you. Now back in those times, they didn’t have food stuffed around their houses, they didn’t even work week to week but day to day. If they didn’t get paid, their children didn’t eat. Have you ever had a child who was just hungry, and you couldn’t feed them? What about a baby? They just cry and wail, they keep coming up to you, “I’m hungry, I’m hungry, I’m hungry, my tummy hurts, I’m hungry…” It still happens now because the rich folk are cheating, not paying what they owe.
This is not the poor who refuse to work. This is not the poor who can work and won’t because they can make more from the government than from a job. He’s talking about those who are working their hardest to make ends meet. He’s talking about those who realize how rich America is and they want to come into our country and build a better life for themselves and their families, and the DO work hard, they are trying to save, and they are trying to take care of their families. And as they do that, their employers decide not to pay them!
What would happen then – and even now – some of us are manual laborers, some of you have told me how you were out digging a trench in the ice cold last winter, and the boss took some time off, went down to sunnier weather, and oh by the way, doesn’t have the money to pay you. Now back in those times, they didn’t have food stuffed around their houses, they didn’t even work week to week but day to day. If they didn’t get paid, their children didn’t eat. Have you ever had a child who was just hungry, and you couldn’t feed them? What about a baby? They just cry and wail, they keep coming up to you, “I’m hungry, I’m hungry, I’m hungry, my tummy hurts, I’m hungry…” It still happens now because the rich folk are cheating, not paying what they owe.
This is not the poor who refuse to work. This is not the poor who can work and won’t because they can make more from the government than from a job. He’s talking about those who are working their hardest to make ends meet. He’s talking about those who realize how rich America is and they want to come into our country and build a better life for themselves and their families, and the DO work hard, they are trying to save, and they are trying to take care of their families. And as they do that, their employers decide not to pay them!
James 5:5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence.
You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
A hundred years ago, if the kings and queens of the entire world could look at how we live now, we live better than they could ever have dreamed! We get so frustrated when our YouTube videos don’t load fast enough! I have to wait 5 seconds for this to load? I’m calling the cable company! #firstworldproblems
In a week and a half, most of us will sit down and enjoy some kind of fattened bird on a big platter in the middle of the table. Do you think those turkeys have any idea why they are living like kings right now? “More food – YES! I’m not even hungry, and you’re bringing me more food! I’ve finally arrived! This must be what Heaven is like!” We are living just like that turkey, or that cow who’s being fed all the grain he can handle. We’re just fattening ourselves up, and we’re heading straight for the slaughterhouse because we’re not paying attention. We’re living a life of self-indulgence, and we’re living a life of luxury. That’s what we’re struggling with, and here’s what will happen in the end.
In a week and a half, most of us will sit down and enjoy some kind of fattened bird on a big platter in the middle of the table. Do you think those turkeys have any idea why they are living like kings right now? “More food – YES! I’m not even hungry, and you’re bringing me more food! I’ve finally arrived! This must be what Heaven is like!” We are living just like that turkey, or that cow who’s being fed all the grain he can handle. We’re just fattening ourselves up, and we’re heading straight for the slaughterhouse because we’re not paying attention. We’re living a life of self-indulgence, and we’re living a life of luxury. That’s what we’re struggling with, and here’s what will happen in the end.
Revelation 20: 11-12 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it.
From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.
Then another book was opened, which is the book of life.
And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.
Then another book was opened, which is the book of life.
And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
It doesn’t matter how much stuff you have accumulated in this life. It only matters what you are doing with it. Some of us God has entrusted with a lot, and to whom much is given, much is required. What are you doing with it? You’re going to be judged for it!
“Well, this is all speculation. Revelation is kind of an eerie book, no one knows quite what do make of it.” That’s why I’m at the end of the book. Not one time, not one time, has this ever been proven incorrect. Everything that this book has said would happen has happened, up until this point. There is zero reason, zero chance to believe that this won’t happen. So someday, we will stand before Jesus, he will open a couple of books, and everyone will be judged according to what they have done.
“Well, this is all speculation. Revelation is kind of an eerie book, no one knows quite what do make of it.” That’s why I’m at the end of the book. Not one time, not one time, has this ever been proven incorrect. Everything that this book has said would happen has happened, up until this point. There is zero reason, zero chance to believe that this won’t happen. So someday, we will stand before Jesus, he will open a couple of books, and everyone will be judged according to what they have done.
Revelation 20:13-15 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it,
Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them,
and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.
14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
This is the second death, the lake of fire.
15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life,
he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them,
and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.
14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
This is the second death, the lake of fire.
15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life,
he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Doesn’t this sound like what we just read in James 5? All that stuff that you’re hoarding, all those times you cheated somebody, it’s going to come back. It’s not just going to come back as a regretful memory, it’s going to come back as pain that you will suffer for all of eternity. That’s what he’s saying.
Now we’re dealing with two different thought processes: Ownership versus Stewardship. This is a heart issue – there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being rich, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being poor, but how are you using what you have to help others. “I can’t help anybody, I can hardly pay my bills!” Jesus talked about that, remember the widow who only gave 2 small coins? He said she would be blessed for that!
Ownership says, “It is mine. I am my own man. The life I have is because I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps. I worked, and I deserve everything I have. I control it, I decide what happens with it, it is all about me. I am my own, what I have is my own, I deserve what I have, and I control what I have.” Know anybody like that? The truth is, almost all of us are like that. Way down deep, we think it’s ours! We worked hard for it, we control it!
A steward is a manager. How do you know if you have a good manager in a store? The owner is happy because the manager is taking care of his stuff and doing a good job with it. Customers are happy, income is there, revenues are going up, this is a good thing. He’s stewarding it well, he’s managing it well.
Stewardship says, “I am not my own. I belong to Jesus. Romans 1:6 says, “you who are called to belong to Jesus.” It says later that you were bought with a price, and are not your own. Stewards start thinking about their stuff, their life, their heart, and everything God has entrusted them with, differently. They start thinking, “It’s not mine. It’s not mine! This shirt, it’s a gift from God.” And we’re all glad I’m wearing a shirt! The house I live in is not mine (Yeah, it’s the bank’s! – No, that’s not where I’m going with this…) God has entrusted us with the home, how are we taking care of it? When you begin to see the difference, that it’s HIS and he’s entrusting you with it, you begin to think differently. Because when it’s yours, you tend to think, “I’ll take care of it later,” but if you know it belongs to someone else, you close down Facebook and get back to the work you should be doing. There’s accountability, you recognize that it’s not yours. What are you doing with the time you are given? Stewards say, “It’s not mine.”
Stewards also say, “What I have is not mine, it was given to me.”
Now we’re dealing with two different thought processes: Ownership versus Stewardship. This is a heart issue – there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being rich, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being poor, but how are you using what you have to help others. “I can’t help anybody, I can hardly pay my bills!” Jesus talked about that, remember the widow who only gave 2 small coins? He said she would be blessed for that!
Ownership says, “It is mine. I am my own man. The life I have is because I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps. I worked, and I deserve everything I have. I control it, I decide what happens with it, it is all about me. I am my own, what I have is my own, I deserve what I have, and I control what I have.” Know anybody like that? The truth is, almost all of us are like that. Way down deep, we think it’s ours! We worked hard for it, we control it!
A steward is a manager. How do you know if you have a good manager in a store? The owner is happy because the manager is taking care of his stuff and doing a good job with it. Customers are happy, income is there, revenues are going up, this is a good thing. He’s stewarding it well, he’s managing it well.
Stewardship says, “I am not my own. I belong to Jesus. Romans 1:6 says, “you who are called to belong to Jesus.” It says later that you were bought with a price, and are not your own. Stewards start thinking about their stuff, their life, their heart, and everything God has entrusted them with, differently. They start thinking, “It’s not mine. It’s not mine! This shirt, it’s a gift from God.” And we’re all glad I’m wearing a shirt! The house I live in is not mine (Yeah, it’s the bank’s! – No, that’s not where I’m going with this…) God has entrusted us with the home, how are we taking care of it? When you begin to see the difference, that it’s HIS and he’s entrusting you with it, you begin to think differently. Because when it’s yours, you tend to think, “I’ll take care of it later,” but if you know it belongs to someone else, you close down Facebook and get back to the work you should be doing. There’s accountability, you recognize that it’s not yours. What are you doing with the time you are given? Stewards say, “It’s not mine.”
Stewards also say, “What I have is not mine, it was given to me.”
1 Corinthians 4:7 For who sees anything different in you?
What do you have that you did not receive?
If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
What do you have that you did not receive?
If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
We talk about giving, we talk about tithes – literally, tithe means “10%.” But what if “Tithe” is not you giving back 10%, but you getting to accept 90% of everything God has for you! I’ll take 90%!! What’s he given to you? “I am not my own, what I have is given to me and it belongs to God.”
“I am managing His creation for His glory.” God created everything. Then he created man and said, “Man, run things. Take care of it. It’s mine, but you take care of it.” That hasn’t changed. God is still saying, “I’m giving you all this stuff to manage. I’ve given you this income, this house, these children – take care of them for me! Do a good job for me, because I’m watching. You’ll be judged for it. We’re keeping an account of this stuff.” How are you raising your children? How are you raising the children around you? You have children in your life that you can love, whose parents you can help. You can take all three of mine anytime you want! What are you doing with the income, the gifts God has given to you? So many of you are hoarding all this stuff because you’re cheating on your taxes, cheating people out of what you owe – STOP. God has given you everything you need, so pass it on.
“I am managing His creation for His glory.” God created everything. Then he created man and said, “Man, run things. Take care of it. It’s mine, but you take care of it.” That hasn’t changed. God is still saying, “I’m giving you all this stuff to manage. I’ve given you this income, this house, these children – take care of them for me! Do a good job for me, because I’m watching. You’ll be judged for it. We’re keeping an account of this stuff.” How are you raising your children? How are you raising the children around you? You have children in your life that you can love, whose parents you can help. You can take all three of mine anytime you want! What are you doing with the income, the gifts God has given to you? So many of you are hoarding all this stuff because you’re cheating on your taxes, cheating people out of what you owe – STOP. God has given you everything you need, so pass it on.