Preaching To Myself - I Am Cain
James is a book that the writer, James, has so beautifully delved into as its own commentary of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. I imagine James, the half-brother of Jesus, sitting closely by Jesus as he preaches to the mass, taking notes on his thoughts of the sermon and being intrigued by this new radical way of life that his brother is introducing to the world. We are blessed to have received the book of James that details his furthering thoughts on Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. There was one section in particular that picked on my heartstrings wherein I cannot seem to walk away from without sharing, and that is James 5:1-7 where James warns the rich.
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.
In this section, James is pulling from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:19-24.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve 2 masters…it is either God or money”.
From looking into both passages, I am seeing James emphasize a warning of self-indulgence in money while Jesus emphasizes on a promise as we seek to build treasures in Heaven.
A Warning of Self-indulgence
James is not implying that it is a sin to be rich, or that it is a sin to have money in general. What I have studied and believe he is telling us is that the way we use money will be evidence of our fruit of faith in God. Living in self-indulgence–fattening your heart with treasures that will not be laid up in heaven will ultimately result in the evidence that one serves money. James warns of how self-indulgence alludes to the reality that God will not resist placing misery on those who have failed to confess, repent and give up their master of money.
When I am reading the passages of James and Matthew, I find there is an intricate analogy lying in between the pages. You can see how James uses his warning of self-indulgence and Jesus's teaching in Matthew 6 as a type of imagery; just as the treasures that one person builds up on earth will rot, so will the person rot on earth and for all eternity. God “does not resist” such a person. As verse 1 utilizes the prophetic terms, “weep and howl”, and “miseries”, we can safely conclude God will make judgment on the one who has made money their god. Our God is a jealous for us, and he will not relent until he has redeemed his creation.
Side note, I want to make known that self-indulgence with money does not mean automatic condemnation. James is speaking to a particular group of people who have not come to confess or repent of their sins, nor given their life up to God. But this is a use case we as Christians can learn from to move towards holiness. Just like any other sin we struggle with, we must give this up to God to sanctify us.
A Promise of Eternity
Meanwhile, Jesus gives us a black and white commandment where he is emphatic on telling us that if we are faithful to store up our treasures in Heaven, we will receive the light of life. In Matthew 6:22, the good eye of a faithful follower looks to God as their master. Anyone who looks to God is filled with the light of Christ to be a city on a hill, an agent of God’s redeeming plan.
Jesus warns us that one’s entire life will be factored by the things that they set their eyes on. If the eyes are set on the world, their entire world will be fueled with the darkness that comes from the world and from it death ensues. But when we set our eyes on God, we will receive the promise of Jesus Christ which is eternal life. Our reward will be in Heaven as we surrender all we have to him because he knows, as our good good Father, that everything we surrender to him will be secure.
What Do We Do Now?
What then should the followers of Jesus do with the riches we’ve been blessed with or the money we receive? The first thing that must be established is this, the money we have is not ours to call our own. It does not belong to us. What we simply have in this life are blessings that we don’t deserve; they are blessings that God lends to us because he is a good and gracious Father. God gives and takes away as he sees fit for us, because he owns it all–everything under Heaven and on earth.
Titus 1:15 screams the truth of how our minds are corrupt. There is this sin desire in humanity where our nature seeks to possess and to covet after “things” with deep passion. Words such as “mine” are an expression of the nature of our sinful symptoms. The things of this world have become so necessary to us to the point where God’s blessings and gifts take the place of God on the throne. This corrupt nature to self-indulge and possess everything we put our eyes on in this world is one the most harmful habits because it is so natural that we do not recognize the sin that it is or can easily become. We throne the created things of man rather than the Creator.
I am guilty of this. I’m not innocent by any means. But I recognize this fault and am convicted to move towards a vertical direction to please God in what I set my eyes on and how I am responsible for my finances. I have confessed and repented before God for forgiveness because I have truly cheated God. How dare I in times of selfishness say, “I can’t give tithe because I want this or think I need that”—when I already have enough. I am not saying it’s sinful to buy a dress or take a vacation here and there. But what I am saying is that my conviction leads me to understand that when I withhold tithe to God because of my fleshly desire to self-indulge in my wants, I cheat him out of what he deserves. I like to think that I am Abel, but it turns out I play the role of being Cain.
Truthfully, the only thing we can only say we possess is the blood of Jesus Christ covering over our sins. We own nothing…we possess no treasures in this world. The real treasure we have, and the only treasure that ultimately matters is inward and eternal. Our salvation in Christ ought to lead us to surrender everything to God just as the early Christians did in Acts. In my women’s bible study session, someone made a comment that added to the reality of just how gracious God is on top of already giving us Christ, “Think about this, God asked for only 10 percent of what he’s giving you. He’s letting you keep 90 percent of everything else.” This puts our selfishness even more into perspective, right?
These treasures we have on earth: money, home, clothes, etc.—God didn’t bless us with the things we have to forget about him. He gave us our things to remember him and in our remembrance, bless his Kingdom. As you begin to see what God has given you as a gracious loan, you will see how letting go of your self-indulgence will bear fruit in ways that will bless you tenfold. And I don’t mean more money or more things, but things that truly fill your cup and heal your soul.
Back to the initial question, what then should the followers of Jesus do with the riches we’ve been blessed with or the money we receive? In Matthew 6:33, Jesus says as he concludes this passage in the Sermon on the Mount, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you”. We should use it to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. Practically, this means to give tithe to your local church, give to people in need like families that are in a tight situation, missionaries campaigning for their annual fund, or organizations that have a purpose aligning with your convictions. If you’re tight on money and feel like what you're giving isn’t enough, be encouraged by Mark 12:42-44,
“And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
You can also consider prioritizing your time to your community as well. Most importantly, in my opinion, what I am doing actively to be faithful is living by a financial lifestyle that is faithful to the Lord—not succumbing to self-indulgence but God-indulgence. Ask yourself what areas in your budget or financial portfolio can you give back to God and his Kingdom? What can you refrain from doing to display a financial lifestyle that is honoring God?
If you’ve already been faithful in giving your tithe and seeking God, praise God for your faithfulness and continue to run the good race!
CY