Talk

Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems

Ben Stuart

November 24, 2019

According to James Chapter 5, rich people should be sad — but why? This week, Ben Stuart explains what James really means when he cautions the wealthy to watch where they place their value. The more we love money, the less we love people. At the end of the day, the issue isn’t about money at all but about our hearts. When we see and experience the generosity of God, it changes our priorities and our posture to extend that generosity to others.

Scripture References

15Then he said to them,

“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

16And he told them this parable:

“The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.

He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.

And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

22Then Jesus said to his disciples:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.

For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.

And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it.

For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.

But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

1Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you.

2Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.

3Your 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.

4Look! 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.

9“ ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.

10Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the

Lord

your God.

26Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the

Lord

your God and rejoice.

29so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the

Lord

your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

8And the word of the

Lord

came again to Zechariah:

9“This is what the

Lord

Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.

10Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’

11“But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears.

12They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the

Lord

Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the

Lord

Almighty was very angry.

13“ ‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the

Lord

Almighty.

13“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,

his upper rooms by injustice,

making his own people work for nothing,

not paying them for their labor.

14He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace

with spacious upper rooms.’

So he makes large windows in it,

panels it with cedar

and decorates it in red.

15“Does it make you a king

to have more and more cedar?

Did not your father have food and drink?

He did what was right and just,

so all went well with him.

16He defended the cause of the poor and needy,

and so all went well.

Is that not what it means to know me?”

declares the

Lord

Ben Stuart

Ben Stuart is the pastor of Passion City Church D.C. Prior to joining Passion City Church, Ben served as the executive director of Breakaway Ministries on the campus of Texas A&M. He also earned a master’s degree in historical theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Donna, live to inspire and equip people to walk with God for a lifetime.