(Part 3 in 4
part series)
“Your gold and silver are corroded.
Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have
hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen
who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters
have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury
and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have
condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.”
James
5:3-6
It is
evident, from the above passage, that the love of mammon will lead us down a
very dangerous path. This unhealthy obsession with wealth will lead us into
hoarding, dishonest gain, to pursue self-indulgence and to treat others
unjustly.
James stated
in verse 3 that “Your gold and silver are
corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like
fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.” Simply stated, hoarding is the behavior of acquiring
an excessive amount of things, coupled with an unwillingness to get rid of
anything. Hoarding in our nation is an epidemic. There is even a reality show
that chronicles the life of those whose lives have been wrecked by this obsession
with material things. Many of us would read over this passage believing that it
is directed only towards rich people! The question is who is considered rich?
When much of the world’s population lives on $2 per day, nearly everyone in
America is considered rich! Serving mammon is not simply about getting rich,
but it is about possessing things! The danger of hoarding is best seen in an
illustration I took from my trip to Israel a few years ago. There is a sea in
Israel that receives water from the Jordan River, but has no outlet. Because it
only receives and gives nothing out, it is toxic to maintaining life. It is
rightly called the Dead Sea. Hoarding is evidence of a toxic situation in our
lives. It indicates that we have a desire to receive, but no outlet for giving
things away.
The pursuit
of mammon can also lead us into dishonest gain:
“Look! The wages you failed to pay
the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the
harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.”
James
5:4
You may feel
that this, too, does not apply to you. You don’t own a business or run a
company, so there is no application. However, if you are a worker who shows up
late to work, likes to leave early, abuses break times, lies on your time card,
and steals company property…this is just as much dishonest gain as the other.
This, too, demonstrates a toxic
situation in our lives, one in which we feel justified in taking what does not
belong to us. As much as business owners, supervisors and managers need to
exercise honesty and integrity with their employees, Christian employees ought
to demonstrate the same honesty integrity with their employers.
Pastor Scott Burr
http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com/
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