Title: We are stewards (James 5:1-6)
Content We are stewards (James 5:1-6)
we are stewards
about 5:1-6
A prisoner once exclaimed, “With money, guilt becomes innocence, and without money, innocence becomes guilty.” Indeed, today's wealth is so powerful that it even determines the fate of man, and that power works for both good and bad. Although materials are sometimes used badly, wealth itself is not evil. However, depending on how wealth is acquired and used, it can be used for good or for bad. However, it is clear that we must not forget that we are stewards of the material, not the master of it.
The more developed countries are left behind in culture, the greater the gap between the rich and the poor, and this phenomenon is even worse in countries that reject the Gospel of Christianity. If one particular person occupies too much, the rest will inevitably become extremely poor, and in developing countries, especially those with a backward mental culture, this does not have the ability to adequately control, widening the gap and creating a sense of incongruity between classes. is. Due to this sense of incongruity, people are becoming slaves to material things. In today's text, we are talking about this fact and hope that we will not forget that we are stewards of God.
First of all, James is calling out to those who exploit them that they will suffer hardships to weep and weep.
The rich people whom James is rebuking here do not refer to those who have become rich by sweating justly, but to those who have become wealthy through illegitimate means, those who have accumulated wealth by taking undue gain, that is, a portion that would go to others. are doing God does not take pleasure in unrighteous riches, and He commands us to depart from all unrighteousness. Those who exploit will receive an equivalent from God, and it is suffering to weep and weep.
Jesus rebuked those who depend on wealth through the words, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24).
Those who are materially rich among the saints will use their wealth for the Lord's work, and should also serve their neighbors. This is because whatever God has given to people, such as material things, health, honor, and faith, is not provided for one's glory, but to be used to serve God and others.
In Luke 19:8, after meeting the Lord, Zacchaeus confesses, “Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, I will give half of what I have to the poor. I will pay you back twice as much.” After meeting Jesus, Zacchaeus knew immediately how to use his wealth. And it was clear from whom it came. That is why this confession was made.
Dear brothers and sisters, I pray that you will become believers who truly use what we have for the Lord.
James says that accumulating wealth is mismanaging God's possessions.
Two children were dying in the house while a rabbi named Mayer was preaching in the chapel on the Sabbath.
The wife carried the bodies of the two children upstairs and covered them with a white cloth.
When the rabbi returned, his wife said, "I have a question for you. Someone told me to keep it, and he left with me a very precious gem. The owner suddenly asked me to return the gem. Would it be good?" he said. The rabbi replied, "Give it back to your master immediately." Then the wife said, "Actually, God just took two precious stones to heaven and passed away." The rabbi understood and said nothing.
England in the late 1700s. As the wave of industrialization raged, pleasure, luxury, and moral depravity made England sick. As always, even then, people's mismanagement of wealth aggravated the pathology. At that time, John Wesley carried out a great spiritual awakening and changed England. In his "Theory of Wealth Management Stewardship," he says: “When I spend money, I need to check whether there is any violation of my morals as a steward of God, figure out whether spending money is appropriate in God’s eyes, and think about whether the use of this money is worthy of God’s reward in the future,” he exclaimed. I did.
God never gives anyone wealth to store up. It is only given to us to take good care of it and use it for good. That is, he made you a steward. It is only what God has entrusted to us. However, many people are ignorant of this fact and commit the folly of living as if they were their own.
When people are too greedy, they become deceived by riches and steal other people's things, sometimes even killing people to get them. Still, there are people who live unaware that it is a sin. How wrong is this life? People live as if it was natural to sacrifice other things to get riches. That is why the Bible says, “When lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:15).
The Lord's command to the rich is to "do good, be rich in good works, be generous and sympathetic" (1 Timothy 6:18). The wealth accumulated in the world and the wealth used for luxury and communication are moth and unregistered, and thieves break through and take them. The Lord says through Matthew 6 that blessed are those who store up treasures in heaven by using them for good (Matthew 6:19-21).
Dear brothers and sisters, I pray in the name of the Lord that we may become blessed people who glorify God through the things the Lord has given us by making good use of the things the Lord has given us.
James is saying that workers should be paid a reasonable wage.
At the time of James, the wages of the household were to be paid on the same day, but employers were often overdue and did not pay the fair wages. As such, the employers were hard-pressed, and they were obsessed with exploiting the wages of the poor workers, oppressing them, and filling their stomachs instead. So James is pointing out their injustice by saying, “Behold, the wages that were not given to the laborers who have harvested in your field have cried out, and the weeping of those who have reaped has been heard in the ears of the Lord of hosts.”
God never neglects the cry of the poor. God hears the voices of his people who are unjustly oppressed and responds appropriately according to his sovereignty.
Promises must be fulfilled, and it is the employer's responsibility to pay fair wages. God listens to their cries.
Our God hears the cry of the weak. God always stood by the side of the weak and took care of them.
Our God is an almighty God who lifts up the weak and puts the strong to shame. This God immediately responds to the cry of the weak. Dear brothers and sisters, that is why we must always stand before the Lord as a weak person. Then our God will help us.
I hope that the believers who have faith will not be on the side of the rich, but that they will be able to stand on the side of the really weak and weak.
This is what pleases the Lord.
This kind of life is truly the right life as a steward. A steward is one who does not claim mine. Because everything comes from the Lord, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will become blessed saints who live for the glory of the Lord, acknowledging that everything is the Lord's.