Fellowship in the Word

Jason Gephart: Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gephart challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ.

Bil Gebhardt: Remember, God gives you two things in your relationship with him like no one else. He gives you security. He said I'll never leave you nor forsake you. I'll always be here. Once saved, always saved. He's always there. He said all my promises will come true. You can count on me. You are secure in my love. And then he also gives you significance. You're a child of God. You and I are children of God. What an amazing statement that is. We are of the family of God.

Jason Gephart: Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gephart. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gephart now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world.

Bil Gebhardt: But think about it. Isn't tempting for us to hoard when we have real wealth? Yes. We hoard it. He said we want more. And it's an amazing thing. Even if someone like Solomon said, you know, I thought about this enough though that if you hoard it long enough and keep it long enough and eventually you're just going to die. And then somebody else ungrateful is going to take it and splurge with it. So what was the point of hoarding it? Well, that's what James is saying. He said one of the things you've done that's wrong from God's point of view is you hoarded it.

Secondly, he says they added to their wealth by cheating other people. In verse 4 he says, behold the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields and which you withheld by it was with held by you. It cries out against you and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of the Sabaoth. There was a problem. People had money there was based almost entirely on the ability to own land. If you owned enough land, you could raise enough crops. But the people who really own land and raise crops didn't work the land themselves.

They hired day laborers. Now that was always their culture. You just hire someone to come in. They they do the planning season, they do the harvest season, whatever it is. And he said, you know what you guys do? In order to have more, you actually cheat these people. They should have never even thought that way. In Leviticus 19 it says, you shall not cheat your neighbor nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning. Leviticus says if you hire someone to do a job in Israel's economy, you pay him that day.

If he works one day, you pay him that day. You don't hold the money to the next morning. James is saying they held the money indefinitely. In Jeremiah 22 it says, woe to him who builds his house by un- unrighteousness and his chambers by injustice, who uses his neighbor's service without wages and gives him nothing for his work. He said you can't do that. He said you can't. Now I imagine when the wealthy got together, they got together and said sort of what we do. Well, you got to understand it's business. We're doing business. You see when you do business, you cut the corner.

You do whatever you can. You try to make as much profit as you can possibly do. And in their case they were actually cheating other people. He says, look, don't you understand what's really going on here? And I love this phrase. He says, their outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Unusual, unusual. Lord Sabaoth. He's the Lord of hosts. He's the Lord of heaven's armies. Don't you understand what you've done? How grievous it is? Don't you understand by misusing your money in this way how grievous it is?

It's reached the ears of the Lord Sabaoth. You may know this term from Martin Luther's great hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. One of his lyrics he writes is this, dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is he. Lord Sabaoth is his name. From age to age the same, and he must win the battle. James is saying to us, look, when you misuse your wealth like that, it goes right to the King of Kings, Lord of Lords. He's going to hold you accountable for that. You see to whom much is given, much is expected.

We'll see a little bit later. There's a way to use it. But the idea is if you misuse it, don't think that God's going to overlook it or he's going to wink at it because he's not. He said that's not going to happen. They added to their wealth by cheating others. Then in verse 5 they're guilty of a very very selfish lifestyle. He said, you have lived luxuriously on earth and led a life of wanton pleasure. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. The lifestyle of the rich and famous. Think how popular that show was.

We just wanted to see how rich and famous people lived. Look at that boat. Look at that villa. It's amazing when you think about it. We're not we're no different than they were. He says, look, you lived the life like that. You lived every way you wanted to live. Randy Alcorn writes this. He said promising fulfillment in money and the things and lands and houses and cars and clothes and boats and campers and hot tubs and world travel, materialism has left us bound and gagged. He says pathetically thinking what a drug addict thinks, that our only hope is getting more of the same.

All the while the voice of God so hard to hear through the clatter of our things tells us that even if materialism did bring happiness in this life, which it certainly does not, it leaves you woefully unprepared for the next. Wealth is dangerous. It's an amazing thing spiritually, but poverty would be much easier for you than wealth. That's what he's saying. Turn with me and hold your place here, but turn with me to Ecclesiastes chapter 2. And I love this chapter. I love the book Ecclesiastes, but I love this chapter because I think all of us think it would be different with us.

If I only had this, if I only accomplished this, if I only secured that, if I only built this, if I if only. And Solomon writes Ecclesiastes and he says, oh, by the way, everything you can dream of I did. And he did. That's exactly what he says. He says in verse 4 of Ecclesiastes 2, he said, I enlarged my works. I built houses for myself. I planted vineyards for myself. I made gardens and parks for myself. And I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees.

I bought male and female slaves and I had homeborn slaves. I also possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. Also he said, I collected for myself silver and gold and treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers. He didn't buy like a nice stereo system. He hired the people to sing. He said in the pleasures of men many concubines. You can imagine it I did it, he said. Anything you can imagine. I didn't withhold anything from me. I did it all. He said, then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem.

My wisdom also stood by me. I had this great wisdom as well. All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. Think of that. All that his eyes desired he didn't refuse them once. He could do anything he wanted whenever he wanted it. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure for my heart was pleased because all of my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. Oh, I want to hear how great this life was. He said, thus I considered all the activities in which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.

It didn't do a thing. You want unlimited wealth, I had it. You want to try every pleasure known to man, I tried them all. Everything you could imagine. You want a reputation of being a great builder, I do I built everything. I did everything imaginable. And you know what it meant to me? Nothing. Once I had it all, it never lived up to what it said. Why? Because wealth is a dangerous thing. You see wealth is a dangerous thing. Solomon knows how dangerous it is. Always the question comes down to we know that. You see I think one of the great ways we lie to ourselves is we always believe we'll be different.

We always believe we'll be different. Boy, if my ship comes in, if that lottery ticket wins or whatever it is, then it's going to be great. Even if they show you shows on television, by the way, not only your odds unbelievably bad, but they'll even show you shows on television of what happened to previous lottery winners and how many of them their whole lives were ruined. And you would say what? Not me. I can keep my priorities in line. The scripture says over and over again, wealth's a dangerous thing. You see that's what he is talking about.

Now listen to what A. W. Tozer said concerning this desire within us. He wrote this in the 1950s. He said, there is written within human heart a tough fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess always to possess. It covets things with a deep and fierce passion. The pronouns my and mine look innocent enough in print, but their constant and universal use is significant. They express the real nature of the old Adamic man better than a thousand volumes of theology. They are verbal symptoms of our deep disease. The roots of our heart have grown down into things and we dare not pull one of the roots up lest we die.

Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended by God. God's gifts now take the place of God and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution. By the way, that's why wealth's a dangerous thing. If you have enough wealth, you have the temptation of replacing God with wealth. You see it becomes the worst kind of idol possible. Remember, God gives you two things in your relationship with him like no one else. He gives you security. He said I'll never leave you nor forsake you. I'll always be here. Once saved, always saved.

He's always there. He said all my promises will come true. You can count on me. You are secure in my love. And then he also gives you significance. You're a child of God. You and I are children of God. What an amazing statement that is. We are of the family of God. By the way, what do we inherit when it's all over? Everything. We are joint heirs with Christ. What significance we have? Now let me ask you, what does money give you? Does money give you security? Oh, yeah. Yeah, you can't plan for retirement without money.

You You won't be able to live. You'll die. You 'll turn 65 and die. You have to have money. You know, it's money that makes you secure. And then what about significant? Does money make me significant? Oh, yeah. I live in a neighborhood you can't live in. I drive a car you can't drive and I even eat in restaurants you couldn't eat in. You know what that means? I'm significant. See the danger? It's a perfect substitute for God. That why wealth's a dangerous thing. You have to be careful with it. So back to James in just verse 6.

He says they are hoarded their riches. They added to their wealth by cheating others. They're guilty of a selfish lifestyle and they are guilty of taking unfair advantage of the righteous. He simply says you have condemned and put to death the righteous man and he does not resist you. The wealthy will always take advantage of the poor. It will always be that way. And the poor can't resist. The poor can only resist to the degree that the wealthy will allow them. I think one of the saddest things I saw in Hurricane Harvey watching all that film was how many of the people that were really affected were poor.

You know, they were poor and they were really affected. We had friends that lived in places like the Woodlands, you know, northern Houston and phenomenal place, just phenomenal. And we kept asking them how bad is it? How bad is it? No water. We don't have any water. It's been taken care of. Now I wonder what happens through Florida. The same idea. What happens? You see when they start talking about the people who really are hurt by this will be the wealthy or be the poor. Inevitably it almost always seems to be the poor. That's what he is saying.

There's no ability to resist. They hoarded their riches. They added to their wealth by cheating others. They're guilty of a selfish lifestyle and they were guilty of taking unfair advantage of the righteous. Chuck Swindoll said that he saw three applications in these verses and I liked them. He said one thing is this, hoarded riches reap miserable dividends. You know, if you want to hoard stuff don't we'll see in a moment, don't hoard your riches. It's just pointless. Secondly, riches will provide no relief in eternity. No one will ever care in eternity whether you were wealthy here or not.

No one ever will. No one will ever bring it up. It's a non-issue. And the last thing he says to the wealthy is a lack of judgment today does not mean there'll be a lack of judgment tomorrow. You see that's the danger of riches. So the question comes down, what about us? I mean so far Bill it sounds like pretty much a downer to me, you know. Well, no, there's a wonderful side to all this. Uh turn with me now to 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy 6, a few pages to your left. And we'll see the balance of this.

You mean I can be wealthy and be close to God? Yes. You surely can. It's a wonderful thing. James is speaking from a different perspective than Paul. But Paul gives the same warning. In chapter 6 of 1 Timothy in verses 9 and 10 Paul gives a warning before he wants to talk to those of us who are wealthy. He says in verse 9, but to those but those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. Wow. What's he saying? He's not just saying wealthy is danger.

Being wealthy is dangerous. He's saying wanting to be wealthy is dangerous. You see wanting to be wealthy is dangerous. Not whether I 'm just wealthy, but if I want to. He said that's plunged many people into ruin. It's about the money. It's about the money. It 's about the money. Verse 10. For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. He didn't say money was the root. The love of money is the root. He said and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

It applies to Christians. Christians have wrecked their lives spiritually for the love of money. They made money and making money the priority of their life and not serving Christ. So then he gives us a solution in verse 17. He said, instruct those who are rich in this present world. Now you're probably not going to like this because I know you're thinking of people who are rich and that's never you, right? But I want to tell you this. If you would think through of everyone who has ever lived on this planet since Adam and Eve, you're easily in the top 3% of all people who ever lived.

See you have to live in the suburbs in America. So you say, well, there are a lot of people really wealthy. I'm not really one of the wealthy ones. In light of all the people on the planet and all the people who have ever lived, we're all wealthy in that sense. He said, instruct those who are rich in this present world first not to be conceited. What do you mean by that? Don't get your significance from money. That what he means. Don't be conceited. You see don't have that idea that I You know all the phrases.

They look down their nose at you. They think they're better than you, all those kind of things. Those are real temptations people face. You actually believe because your financial standing makes you a better human being. That's not true. He said you can't do that. I love the way he describes it. He says not to be conceited. Don't get your significance from money. You only can get that from the Lord. And do not fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches. Don't think that money will win the day because it may not win the day. Riches are uncertainty in a lot of ways.

You know that. Stock market collapse. I mean a few years ago we had a big dip in the stock market and people wanted to commit suicide. They lost they lost money on paper and that just they just couldn't deal with it. And of course 1929 was something else. But there's something else about the uncertainty of riches. Not only might your riches vanish, you might vanish. You see you could be saving up and saving up and saving up and saving up and saving up. Heart attack, dead. Now who's saving up? Who's saving? I'm saving. I'm saving.

Kids, grandkids, they split it up. Guy's driving a beamer. You know. He's just that's just the way people think. You see it's uncertain. It's not like that's going to give me the security I need. Only Christ will give you the security you need. You see he'll never leave you nor forsake you. What he tells you is true. He said, instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or fix their hope in the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly supplies Watch this. With who richly supplies us with all things and don't miss those next two words.

To what? To enjoy. That's a surprise, isn't it? Uh I thought you were going to be one of those pastors that told us that we have to really hate life and be miserable and that I shouldn't really enjoy any of the wealth that I have. There's no joy. No, he said enjoy it. He said, I want you to enjoy it. If you were so blessed by God as to have wealth, enjoy it. You want to travel, travel. Isn't that great? How freeing is that? You don't even have to have a guilty conscience. He said, I want you to enjoy it.

Don't get your security from it. Don't get your significance from it, but enjoy it. And then he says this, instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share. Now you know why you have money. You see now you know why God gave you money. So you could be rich in good works, so you could share it with other people that have real need, that you could be known as generous because of your abundance. You see he said that's what you can do. He said if you do that you see if you do that, enjoy it all you want, but be known for being generous.

You see do good works. And then he says, let me tell you the advantage of that, the last verse 19, storing up for themselves treasure of a good foundation for the future. He said you send it ahead. Do you realize what he's saying? If God has blessed you with money and you help people who have real need out of your abundance, God says I'll never forget that. That will be rewarded for you in heaven. You see you have always been a person that was generous. That why I gave you the wealth. Just the opposite of what James described that they were hoarding their riches.

They took advantage of the poor people. They lived a lavish lifestyle, but not for any didn't care about anybody else. He said, but you lay up a future for yourself. And then notice the next thing, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. It's not only better in the future, it's better today, much better. Jesus called it I come to give you life and to give it to you abundantly. What do you mean like that? More stuff for me? No. He means the idea that you can have joy and peace and hope.

It'll be better for you today. This is life indeed. By the way, even pop psychology understands this. Pop psychology would tell you how is a person really happy? If they accumulate enough wealth and hoard it, they'll be happy. No. In fact, every study that's ever done says those are miserable people. So what does pop psychology say? Happiness is giving yourself away. That happiness. People who give themselves away are happy. People who meet the needs of people who are more desperate than them are happy. He said not only will you get rewarded in eternity, but you have a much better life now.

You have a life filled with joy and hope and peace. He said that's what you can do with the money. Those two great benefits, eternal reward and satisfying abundant life now. I want to close this sermon with two statements from two unusual people to close this sermon with. The first is Henry Kissinger. He said to Americans, usually tragedy is wanting something very badly and not getting it. Many people have had to learn their learn this lesson in their private lives and nations have had to learn in their historical experience that perhaps the worst form of tragedy is wanting something badly and then getting it and finding it empty.

Wealth is dangerous. And one of my favorite songwriters, Neil Diamond, Forever in Blue Jeans. Money talks, but it can't dance and it can't walk. Money talks. What does your money say about you? Let's pray. Father, this is an area of our lives where we are so rational. We try to cling on to our relationship with you and cling on to the American dream. We want to honor you and honor our Lord and yet we want to honor ourselves. Father, I pray that we understand just how dangerous wealth can be for us. It can lead us astray as Paul said.

It can shipwreck our faith. Father, I pray for each of us who have any sense of means that we're exactly what Paul said we should be, people who are thankful, people who enjoy it, people who do not get their security significance from it, and people who are ready to share, to be generous, to help those who have real need. Because father when we do that we fulfill the reason that you gave us the wealth in the first place that we could send treasures ahead and we could grab a hold of life in the present. Father, I thank you for the many blessings you have bestowed upon us as 21st century American Christians.

But I pray father that we understand what you expect of us for your glory and for our good in Christ's name. Amen.

Jason Gephart: You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gephart on the radio ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible.

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