God Is Not Pleased With How Some Obtain, Use Wealth

Recently, we launched a column featuring excerpts of recent sermons by Washington area clergy. This week's is from the Rev. Artie L. Polk, assistant pastor of Mount Gilead Baptist Church in Northwest.

When members of our congregation are compared to the many people in the world, we can consider ourselves to be very blessed. Many of us already have at least one graduate degree. And, it seems that God is pleased with us. Some of us command top salaries in the job market. We have adequate housing. We have food to eat. We have more clothes than we can wear. Many of us have several automobiles in our families.

Being rich, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. God gave Solomon riches, wisdom and knowledge. And, at the end of Job's great ordeal, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before (Job 42:10).

But in James 5: 1-6, God seems to be anything but pleased with the people addressed in this text: "Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, 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 pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you."

Wow! God delivers some tough language! One important question we must consider is: Who is James addressing in this passage? Could we be in that number? We did say that we are very rich. So, is he writing about us?

Sondra Ely Wheeler, in her book ''Wealth as Peril and Obligation," posits that "this text is addressed not to those within the community, but to outsiders." She argues "there is no word of moral exhortation, no call to repentance, no imperative at all save the one that bids the rich to weep for their imminent misery."

These are the ones who have condemned and put to death the just. These are the ones about whom the harvesters have cried out to God. These are the ones to whom judgment is coming. These are the ones whose demise will serve to bring comfort to the brothers and sisters oppressed by them.

What will be the fate of these rich oppressors? The first thing we see is that the miseries that are coming to these rich oppressors will cause them to weep and wail. James is so certain of their fate that he speaks of them as already occurring. He tells them to start their weeping and wailing now.

What is it that these rich people have done that makes God so angry? It was through wicked means that they obtained their wealth. They had withheld wages of those who had worked for them. This is against God's Law.

God is also not pleased with how they used their wealth. They hoarded it. They lived on the earth in luxury and pleasure, fattening themselves for the slaughter. Then they used the power that comes with wealth to oppress the just. They see the judgment coming, and they still "thumb their noses" at God.

This passage is not addressed to the body of believers. But there has to be a message in this for us.

In her book, Wheeler has questions for us that are instructive for us in today's society. She asks, "To what extent is the wealth of modern Christians the product of injustice in the form of coercive or exploitative practices in labor management, or marketing?"

The question triggers other questions. How do we obtain our wealth? To do so at the expense of others will bring God's wrath upon us. We need to be mindful of this not only for those directly in our employ, but also those indirectly in our employ. Are the companies in which we invest involved in unethical employment practices? Where do we spend our consumer dollars? Patronizing the wrong businesses can be just as damaging as if we were directly and personally involved in exploitative practices in labor, management, or marketing.

With many businesses moving to overseas locations to take advantage of cheap labor, wages at home are driven down. Globalization is one popular method used in exploiting labor.

Another question Wheeler asks is, "Do we hold idle assets that might be used to help those in dire need? Can we defend our share of benefits and burdens of society as just and equitable?"

Although there is a wide disparity in wealth being held by individuals in this country, it is safe to say that most of us have some idle assets that might be used to help those in dire need. Most Americans would find it very difficult to defend our share of benefits and burdens of society as just and equitable.

It is James's conviction that to concentrate on material things is not only to concentrate on a decaying delusion, it is to concentrate on a self-produced destruction.