James: The Emptiness of Riches

James 4:13-5:6   Common English Bible

Pay attention, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such-and-such a town. We will stay there a year, buying and selling, and making a profit.” You don’t really know about tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for only a short while before it vanishes. Here’s what you ought to say: “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” But now you boast and brag, and all such boasting is evil. It is a sin when someone knows the right thing to do and doesn’t do it. 

Pay attention, you wealthy people! Weep and moan over the miseries coming upon you. Your riches have rotted. Moths have destroyed your clothes. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you. It will eat your flesh like fire. Consider the treasure you have hoarded in the last days. Listen! Hear the cries of the wages of your field hands. These are the wages you stole from those who harvested your fields. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of heavenly forces. You have lived a self-satisfying life on this earth, a life of luxury. You have stuffed your hearts in preparation for the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who doesn’t oppose you. 

I don't view myself as wealthy, but that is not probably surprising, because my guess is most of you don't see yourselves as wealthy either.

According to Charles Schwab's 2019 Modern Wealth Survey they found some interesting data.

          59% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck

          44% carry a credit card balance

          only 38% have built up an emergency fund

I doubt there are many here who struggle with those realities

But the other thing they found is what people consider being "wealthy"

          Having a million dollars isn't enough

The responses varied by generation.

Boomers, for example, said they needed $2.6 million to be considered wealthy

Gen Z’ers said they needed significantly less: $1.5 million.

It averages out to about $2.3 million for one to be considered "wealthy" in this survey

You all know what I make a year, as the church council approves my salary and financials are always available to anyone who wants to see them.

And I am pretty certain that I am not in the top half of the income levels of this church

But if I take my after tax salary and run it through a world-wide calculator, and you will get slight variations based on the calculator you use --- But the average suggests that I am in the top 1.5% of all the people in the world

Yet, I would imagine that Nancy and my pay does not put us in the top quarter in the USA

The median USA salary is 60,366 and in a family of 4, (2 adults and 2 children), are still in the top 6.4% in the world

But that is irrelevant --- by any standards, I am rich --- we are all rich

          We do not live paycheck to paycheck

          We have money in the bank

And James is speaking to ME to all of us

In Lima, Peru there is a concrete barrier that literally separates the rich from the poor.

Lima has some of the poorest slums in the world, and multitudes live in squalor.

The wealthy built a wall to protect themselves from the high crime rate of the slums. But the wall has become a symbol of the vast divide existing between the rich and the poor.

Can you, for a moment, imagine a man clambering to the top of the wall?

Imagine if you can James, the brother of Jesus, climbing up there because he wants to preach to the folk on both sides of that wall.

First he turns toward the rich people and boy does he give them an earful --- that's Chapter 5 verses 1-6.

And if you have read this chapter (as I hope you have read the entire Letter of James) you know that verses 7 - 11 are intended for the folk who live on that poor side of the wall.

I am not going to focus on that part of the Letter, but instead want to focus on what James has to say to us.

"Pay attention, you wealthy people!" James calls out to us.

And the words he speaks echo the words that his brother Jesus spoke.

Jesus spoke more about money than he did anything else.

He knew the challenges that wealth can bring to people.

Mark 10

As Jesus continued down the road, a man ran up, knelt before him, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to obtain eternal life?”

Jesus replied, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except the one God. You know the commandments: Don’t commit murder. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t steal. Don’t give false testimony. Don’t cheat. Honor your father and mother.”

“Teacher,” he responded, “I’ve kept all of these things since I was a boy.”

Jesus looked at him carefully and loved him. He said, “You are lacking one thing. Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me.” But the man was dismayed at this statement and went away saddened, because he had many possessions.

Luke 12

Jesus said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourself against all kinds of greed. After all, one’s life isn’t determined by one’s possessions, even when someone is very wealthy.” Then he told them a parable: “A certain rich man’s land produced a bountiful crop. He said to himself, What will I do? I have no place to store my harvest! Then he thought, Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. That’s where I’ll store all my grain and goods. I’ll say to myself, You have stored up plenty of goods, enough for several years. Take it easy! Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself. But God said to him, ‘Fool, tonight you will die. Now who will get the things you have prepared for yourself?’ This is the way it will be for those who hoard things for themselves and aren’t rich toward God.”

Matthew 6

“Stop collecting treasures for your own benefit on earth, where moth and rust eat them and where thieves break in and steal them. Instead, collect treasures for yourselves in heaven, where moth and rust don’t eat them and where thieves don’t break in and steal them. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

"Pay attention, you wealthy people!", then James continues: "Weep and moan over the miseries coming upon you."

Is that what Jesus wants? 

          Misery to come upon us?

I think he wants us to be mindful of what Jesus taught and what Paul affirmed:

(1 Timothy 6:10 Common English Bible (CEB))

The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some have wandered away from the faith and have impaled themselves with a lot of pain because they made money their goal.

And if we are honest --- making money is often our goal.

So what are we to do?

As I began working on this week's sermon, I was drawn to a book that I read decades ago.  It has been revised and republished many times since.  It is Ron Sider's Rich Christians In An Age Of Hunger.  If you have never read it, I highly suggest it.

In conclusion, he offers us three suggestions on what we must do if we are to follow the mandate of Jesus.

He writes:

We need to change at three levels. Appropriate personal lifestyles are crucial to symbolize, validate, and facilitate our concern for the hungry. The church must change so that its common life presents a new model for a divided world. Finally, both here and abroad, we must make the structures of society more fair.

By appropriate personal lifestyles he argues we need to simplify our life.

And he uses the founder of Methodist, John Wesley as an example.

Christians, Wesley said, should give away all but “the plain necessaries of life”—that is, plain, wholesome food, clean clothes, and enough to carry on one’s business. One should earn what one can, justly and honestly. . . . But Wesley wanted all income given to the poor after bare necessities were met. Unfortunately, Wesley discovered, not one person in five hundred in any “Christian city” obeys Jesus’ command.

“Any ‘Christian’ who takes for himself anything more than the plain necessaries of life,” Wesley insisted, “lives in an open, habitual denial of the Lord.” He has “gained riches and hell-fire!”

. . .

We need not agree with Wesley’s every word and concrete standard to see that he was struggling to follow the biblical summons to share with the needy. How much should we give? Knowing that God wants every person to have the resources to earn a decent living, we should give until our lives truly reflect the principles of Leviticus 25 and 2 Corinthians 8.

And what are those principles?

In Leviticus it is the principle of the year of Jubilee, when all debts are forgiven and people are given a fresh start.

In 2nd Corinthians, Paul was writing to the church in Corinth sharing what the Macedonians had done.

They gave offerings of whatever they could—far more than they could afford!—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians.

And he reminds the Corinthians why they should do this

A gift is appreciated because of what a person can afford, not because of what that person can’t afford, if it’s apparent that it’s done willingly. It isn’t that we want others to have financial ease and you financial difficulties, but it’s a matter of equality. At the present moment, your surplus can fill their deficit so that in the future their surplus can fill your deficit. In this way there is equality. As it is written, The one who gathered more didn’t have too much, and the one who gathered less didn’t have too little.

Franklin D. Roosevelt reminded us of this principle when during the great depression he proclaimed:

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

So for Sider, the second challenge is that the church must model this behavior.  We must become a beacon in reaching out to lift up our sisters and brothers.

Does our budget show our priority in ministries that are focused on compassion and justice?

And then finally, we must seek to make the necessary societal changes so that fairness is what rules the day.

But where does one start?

          With you

According to The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy charitable giving among individuals is down this past year.  Most studies suggest charitable giving is about 3% of income in the USA with the poor giving a higher percentage than the rich.

One of the things we can do is evaluate our own giving patterns.

Nancy and I give 10% to the church and support numerous other charities as well.

How about you?

Are you following the teachings of James, or John Wesley --- or for that matter Jesus --- in how you use your wealth?

Start by evaluating your spending

          Are the things you are purchasing necessary?

         

          Seek to find ways to give away more

                   Our current clothing drive for Family Promise

In 2010, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates made a pledge --- to give away at least half their wealth.

          Today 204 billionaires have joined this pledge

We may not have the resources that those families have --- but we can make a difference, by doing our part.

"Pay attention, you wealthy people!", because James is showing us the biblical way of living

Bishop White shared this prayer as a benediction to the 1996 General Conference.

And now, may the Lord torment you. May the Lord keep before you the faces of the hungry, the lonely, the rejected and the despised. May the Lord afflict you with pain for the hurt, the wounded, the oppressed, the abused, the victims of violence. May God grace you with agony, a burning thirst for justice and righteousness.

May the Lord give you courage and strength and compassion to make ours a better world, to make your community a better community, to make your church a better church. May you do your best to make it so; and after you have done your best, may the Lord grant you peace.  

James: The Power of the Tongue

James 3:1-12   (CEB)

My brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers, because we know that we teachers will be judged more strictly. We all make mistakes often, but those who don’t make mistakes with their words have reached full maturity. Like a bridled horse, they can control themselves entirely. When we bridle horses and put bits in their mouths to lead them wherever we want, we can control their whole bodies.

Consider ships: They are so large that strong winds are needed to drive them. But pilots direct their ships wherever they want with a little rudder. In the same way, even though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts wildly.

Think about this: A small flame can set a whole forest on fire. The tongue is a small flame of fire, a world of evil at work in us. It contaminates our entire lives. Because of it, the circle of life is set on fire. The tongue itself is set on fire by the flames of hell.

People can tame and already have tamed every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish. No one can tame the tongue, though. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we both bless the Lord and Father and curse human beings made in God’s likeness. Blessing and cursing come from the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, it just shouldn’t be this way!

Both fresh water and salt water don’t come from the same spring, do they? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree produce olives? Can a grapevine produce figs? Of course not, and fresh water doesn’t flow from a saltwater spring either.

In March of 1862, the publication The Christian Recorder, shared in a publication for the first time, what they called an old adage and one I am willing to bet most of us are pretty familiar.

          Sticks and stones will break your bones

                   But names will never hurt you

Unfortunately, many of us, over our lives have learned just how untrue that statement is --- as we have been wounded greatly by others words.

Yehuda Berg, former director of the Kabbalah Centre once said:

“Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble.”

This has been one of the most challenging sermons that I have ever worked on.

The rhetoric that comes from politicians of both stripes has become so uncivil and downright hurtful, and the last thing that I want to do is turn this into a bashing of anyone.

But I would highly suggest that you take a look at the statement that came out of the National Cathedral in Washington DC this past week.  Almost every news outlet covered the story except for a few, that often seem to miss these kinds of stories.

I encourage you just to Google it.

Quoting from the pastors from The National Cathedral: “We have come to accept a level of insult and abuse in political discourse that violates each person’s sacred identity as a child of God,”

Declaring “the time for silence is over,” the statement continues: “What will it take for us all to say, with one voice, that we have had enough? The question is less about the president’s sense of decency, but of ours.”

There are certain Facebook pages that I avoid because they seem to want to encourage belittling of each other.

          And, quite frankly, I have had enough

Words are powerful

And words can be used to hurt or they can be used to heal.

And as I read the news this morning --- two senseless mass shootings --- one in El Paso, and the other just down the road in Dayton.

One has to wonder when WE will say this culture of destruction must come to an end --- and we accept the price that it will cost to truly follow the Christ and put an end to this madness

It was Abraham Joshua Heschel who said:

          “Few are guilty, but all are responsible”

Chew on those WORDS for a few moments.

I am not going to focus on the negative aspect of our words --- each of you could probably come up here and give a testimony on how words have hurt, or maybe even devastated you --- I know I could.

"But what good is that?", as James asked us last week.

So let's look at ways that we can put our faith in Jesus --- who teaches us to love God completely and to love others --- let's look at ways we can live our faith out through our words.

Johnny attended a business training that was conducted by Ken Blanchard and Barbara Glands that was given to 3,000 front line workers of grocery stores and retail outlets across the country.

They talked about the power of words and how what you say really does make a difference in people’s lives.

A month after the event, Barbara said she got a call from a guy named Johnny, who was at the training.

Johnny told her, “I’m nineteen years old. I have Downs Syndrome. I work as a bagger at a grocery store. I went back to the store and I didn’t know how to apply your statements. I liked your talk but I didn’t know what to do with it. I went home and talked with my dad and got an idea. My dad and I sat down at the computer and every day we come up with a statement that is affirming of people, that’s encouraging. If I can’t find one in a little quote book, I’ll make it up. We’ll type it up six different times on the computer. I print off fifty sheets and cut all of them.”

So he has three hundred of these quotes.

Then, every night, Johnny signs each one of them personally.

The next day at the grocery store he puts this stack right by where he bags the groceries.

          He gets everyone’s groceries bagged up.

Then on the last sack he puts the quote of the day, the encouraging word.

He makes sure he looks them in the eye and says,

“I put something very special for you in this sack. I hope it will brighten your day.”

Johnny does this --- every --- single --- day.

Barbara said after about a month she got a phone call from the manager of that grocery store. He said,

“Barbara I can’t believe it. Something really amazing is beginning to happen. I was walking around the store and I noticed while we had lots of checkers at the checkout line, there was almost no one there but maybe one or two people. The line where Johnny was doing the bagging went all the way back to the frozen food section.”

He continued,

“I would tell them over the intercom that there were other lines you could move over to. I would walk down the line and tell people there were other lines open. People would just look and say, ‘No, we’ll wait because we want Johnny’s encouraging word for the day.’

One woman came by and grabbed the supervisor. She said, ‘I used to only come to the grocery store once a week or once every other week. Now I come by almost every day. I buy something just so I can get Johnny’s encouraging word for the day.’”

After about a month had passed, the store manager again called Barbara and said,

“It’s changing our entire culture of our store. Even in the floral department when a flower was broken they used to just throw it away. Now they walk out into the lines, on their own initiative, they pin it onto elderly women or young girls. They brighten their day.”

Every day we are given the opportunity to be a positive influence in the world.

Now I am not telling you that we shouldn't call out those who are speaking vile and hurtful words --- I think we must --- but we need to figure out a way to do it in a positive way.

More than anything else we need to celebrate our commonality

We are letting others divide us

Think of what would happen instead of saying someone whom we disagree on a position is unpatriotic, we looked and celebrated the way we both love our country in our own special ways.

Choosing to be positive requires a conscious choice --- every moment of every day.

At the end of every Rotary Club meeting we would say the four way test --- i still remember it even thought I haven't been a Rotarian for a number of years.

          Is it the TRUTH?

          Is it FAIR to all concerned?

          Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?

          Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

We need to be conscious of the choice we have to share a kind word rather than a divisive one.

So ask yourself

·         what can I say to encourage that person today

·         What can I say to affirm them in some way and help them to realize how important and special they are to God?

Parker Palmer shares a great story.

It actually comes from Carter Hayward, the great womanist theologian.  She shares

Once there was a wise old woman who lived in a small village. The children of the village were puzzled by her—her wisdom, her gentleness, her strength. One day, several of the older children decided to fool her. No one could be as wise as everyone said she was, and they set out to prove it. So they found a baby bird. One of the boys cupped it in his hands and said to his friend, ‘We’ll ask her whether the bird I have in my hands is dead or alive. If she says it is dead, I will open my hands and let it fly always. If she says it’s alive, I’ll crush it and she’ll see that it’s dead.’ So they went to the woman and presented her with this puzzle. ‘Old woman,’ the little boy asked, ‘the bird in my hands, is it dead or alive?’ The old woman became very still, studied the boy’s hands, then looked carefully into his eyes. ‘It’s in your hands,’ she said.”

Thursday night I had the privilege of attending the closing celebration of Project Transformation.

          153 kids participated

          285 persons volunteered

          Over 3,000 books were read

And most impressively of all, 99% of the kids, avoided the summer slid in their reading abilities

The theme book this summer is one of my all-time favorites, The Lorax, and I want to end by quoting from that great 20th century theologian --- Dr Seuss

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It's not."

It is in my hands and in yours --- lets lift each other up with words of hope and love.