Wealth and injustice

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We are daily bombarded by the command to spend our money on ourselves or invest it for our future. I am an absolute mug when it comes to online impulse buys late at night. It’s a relief to my husband that I have no clue or interest in how Bitcoin works.

Every other month in the end Word we have been looking at some of our ‘Respectable Sins’ uncovered by James in his letter. He’s had a lot to say about our attitude to our wealth and status in the first two chapters. Then, in a chiastic sort of way, he has more to say, with an absolute diatribe in Chapter 5. Let’s look at James’ final verdict on the rich and their treatment of the poor:

‘Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 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 workers 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 the innocent one, who was not opposing you’ (James 5:1-6).

It’s grim reading, isn’t it! If we are those who claim to be Christians but have spent our time accumulating wealth, laying up treasures for our last days, wallowing in a self-indulgent lifestyle, feeling powerful and secure, whilst destroying the poor, we are condemned by James’ words (v.5). And being part of a global economy, where we don’t feel we are directly culpable, doesn’t wash with the Lord. He hears the cries of the oppressed. There are countless ways we can be guilty of this – here are a few examples:

Do we bother to check the ethical reputation of the companies our shares and investments are ploughed into? Do we go on buying products and clothes from companies, even though we know the people who made them earn a pittance and live in squalor?

Do we go on drinking coffee from companies with appalling reputations for fair trade – because we think the other stuff tastes ropey? Isn’t it my ‘right’ to drink nice coffee? No! We just don’t think our Christianity needs to stretch that far. As if God won’t notice. We don’t mean to harm anyone, do we? But where wealth is pursued, injustice is never far behind.

Our comfortable and luxurious lives are described by James as fattening our hearts for the day of slaughter. What is the end of this body that we lovingly care for? We dress it, tan it, adorn it, nurse it, pamper it, pay gym membership for it, feed it, starve it, feed it, starve it… but it is travelling unavoidably towards a coffin. It’s a picture of the cow, feeding itself, placidly chewing the cud, taking another mouthful of juicy hay, whilst out of sight the butcher sharpens his knife.

What is the end of material wealth (5:2-3)? Rot. Corrosion. Decomposition. Destruction.

Jesus said we would know a tree by its fruit. ‘A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit,’ He says in Matthew 7:18. A person’s behaviour demonstrates what is in their heart. Remember James’ argument earlier (see James 2:14-26). Faith without deeds is no faith at all, and he is saying that these people are in danger of facing future misery at the hands of the Lord Almighty (5:1).

How then do the rich stop pursuing self-centred prosperity and use their wealth to honour God, for the good of others?

Jesus said this is impossible for us to achieve alone but anything is possible with God’s help for those who ask.

Let’s pray over the coming days we would be those who invite the Holy Spirit to root out the greed in our hearts and replace it with a generous spirit, sanctifying our online spending, our investments; our wallets…

Next time: James still has more to say about our greedy pride.