Sermon Notes 11-24-2013

The book of James

How to live the Christian Life

Sermon 9

You cant take it with you

James 5:1-6

James 5:1–3 (NIV)

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. ² Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. ³ 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.

(V1) Weep and wail because of the misery that is coming!!

So if we say we are rich, and we are, then what does this speak to all of us in this room?

·      One it's a stern warning!!!

o    To make sure we keep money and the way we use it and live for it in check

o   To keep God first, and be careful not to let money become our God

o   God will Judge us for what we did with what He gave us

1 Timothy 6:18 (NIV)

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.

We have to be careful to not let our money get in the way of our salvation, sometimes when we think we know God we don’t. John says in 1 John 2:15 “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him”.

(Vs 2) Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.

·      How many people in this room have too much stuff!!

·      We all do, some more than others

·      There are problem with too much stuff

o   It becomes our God

§  It controls what we do and how we do it

o   We become obsessed with our stuff

§  We let it come between us and the people God puts in our lives

§  It destroys families, and friendships

o   We keep it to fill a hole only God can fill

§  We get stuff and keep stuff to help fill a hole that belongs to God

§  We are always looking for more stuff and we never get satisfied

§  We are never satisfied, because cant replace a relationship!

o   If we are not careful our stuff will be what sends us to Hell!

§  It says here it will testify against us

§  It will be the evidence that convicts us to eternity in Hell

Money and stuff can’t buy or keep us happy.  Jesus is the only thing we can find happiness in. and if you let go of some of that stuff you could be a blessing to others and glorify God in the process!

James 5:4 (NIV)

⁴ 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.

The love of money, and material things makes us go against Gods will!

·      God never desired for there to be any poor

Deuteronomy 15:4 (NIV)

 However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you,

·      It can cause us to walk away from God

1 Timothy 6:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

·      Jesus said we have to chose

Matthew 6:24 (NIV)

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

·      God will always champion the poor

Luke 6:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

·      God champions the poor because they have know where else to turn

·      They are loyal because they need a savior

·      You don’t need a savior, if your money and things are your functional God

There is a reason that Christianity is growing so rapidly in oppressed countries. They are not guaranteed tomorrow! They believe James when he says, “life is like a vapor”. They don’t live in a functional Heaven here on earth they live in Hell right NOW! They know what hell is going to be like; all they have to do is look outside! The poor need a savior, they need Jesus to fill that hole, they don’t have the money to fill it, and so they look to Jesus.

James 5:5 (NIV)

⁵ You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 

·      We eat to much

·      We buy to much

·      We go in debt to get more stuff

·      We by bigger houses so we can store the stuff we haven’t paid for yet

·      We Covent our neighbors stuff

·      We have to have bigger and better than last year

·      We find our identity in what we have and it's never enough!

And what James is saying is Satan is using our stuff to fatten the cow before we go to hell! Because all Satan is doing with our stuff is taking our eye for what God designed us to do, and that’s follow him!

We have a huge hole that only God can fill!

·      We were created to worship God

Ephesians 1:4–6 (NLT)

⁴ Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. ⁵ God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. ⁶ So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.

Revelation 7:9–12 (NLT)

⁹ After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne

and from the Lamb!”

¹¹ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell before the throne with their faces to the ground and worshiped God. ¹² They sang, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

So don’t let Satan deceive you with all the stuff he throws at you, as long as you have money to burn Satan will try and get you to use it for your glory not Gods. God gives to us so that we can have pleasure in giving and he can be glorified in your sacrificial giving! We need to make sure we always keep our heart right and make sure we are doing all we can to help the needy and make sure Gods purpose in His church is being done, through us with our resources and time!