{"id":6960,"date":"2019-12-29T20:00:46","date_gmt":"2019-12-30T03:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=6960"},"modified":"2019-12-29T17:28:47","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T00:28:47","slug":"james5_1-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/james5_1-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Make Money Your Master"},"content":{"rendered":"

James 5:1-11 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is James 5:1-11.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

On verses 1-11:\u00a0\u00a0I believe there are two things that are possibly going on in this passage.\u00a0\u00a0The first is that James is speaking against those who have put their hope in their wealth or in getting rich.\u00a0\u00a0James is casting a scary vision of what their ultimate destiny will look like when they meet God face to face, a destiny where all their wealth and material possessions have rotted and have no lasting or eternal value (v2-3a), how God will bring to justice those who have hoarded wealth by oppressing and mistreating their employees (v3b-4) and other innocent people (v6), and how God will bring to account those who have lived in luxury and self-indulgence but have not lived for God\u2019s purposes (v5).\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a similar picture to Jesus\u2019 parable about the rich fool in Luke 12:13-21 —\u00a0“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” (Luke\u00a012:21)\u00a0\u00a0This passage shows how foolish and short-sighted it is to be obsessed with gaining material wealth.<\/p>\n

The second thing I think may be going on in this passage is that James is speaking to those who are persecuting the church.\u00a0\u00a0James is writing at a time in history when persecution of Christians was widespread and vicious across the Roman empire.\u00a0\u00a0James himself would later be martyred for his faith .\u00a0\u00a0James\u2019 words in verses\u00a01-6 may\u00a0also be a diatribe against persecutors of Christians.\u00a0\u00a0James is saying that although at this time Christians are weeping, wailing, being eaten alive by animals in coliseums, and set on fire, it is their persecutors who will suffer in the end.<\/p>\n

It is in this context that James offers comfort and encouragement for his Christian readers.\u00a0\u00a0He tell them to \u201cbe patient and stand firm, because the Lord\u2019s coming is near\u201d (v8).\u00a0\u00a0James also cites the prophets of the Old Testament and Job as examples of being patient and persevering through times of great suffering.\u00a0\u00a0He affirms the Lord as not being distant or indifferent to their suffering, but full of compassion and mercy (v11b), a just judge (v9).\u00a0\u00a0He tells them to not grumble against one another (v9) but to persevere together.\u00a0\u00a0Thus patience (a word that appears four times in verses 7-10) is a big theme in this passage and perseverance (appearing twice in verses 10-11) is one of the biggest themes of this entire letter.
\nWhat can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Money is a useful tool, but an awful master. So make Jesus, not money, the centre of your life.\u00a0\u00a0You will be so much better off in the end.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. God is full of justice, compassion and mercy.\u00a0\u00a0An attentive judge, He will bring to justice all those who hurt His children.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. When facing difficult times, especially persecution, be patient and persevere like Job did.\u00a0\u00a0God is writing a greater story.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Lord Jesus, I praise You for being full of compassion and mercy, a just judge who brings to justice those who hurt others.\u00a0\u00a0Only You deserve to be at the throne of my life.\u00a0\u00a0May I not be ruled by a love of money or an obsession with material wealth.\u00a0\u00a0Instead may I live with You at the centre.\u00a0\u00a0May I be patient when I go through tough times, knowing that You are writing a greater story with my life.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

        Today\u2019s passage is James 5:1-11.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

        On verses 1-11:\u00a0\u00a0I believe there are two things that are possibly going on in this passage.\u00a0\u00a0The first is that James is speaking against those who have put their hope in their wealth or in getting rich.\u00a0\u00a0James is casting a scary vision of what their ultimate destiny will look like when they meet God face to face, a destiny where all their wealth and material possessions have rotted and have no lasting or eternal value (v2-3a), how God will bring to justice those who have hoarded wealth by oppressing and mistreating their employees (v3b-4) and other innocent people (v6), and how God will bring to account those who have lived in luxury and self-indulgence but have not lived for God\u2019s purposes (v5).\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a similar picture to Jesus\u2019 parable about the rich fool in Luke 12:13-21 —\u00a0“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” (Luke\u00a012:21)\u00a0\u00a0This passage shows how foolish and short-sighted it is to be obsessed with gaining material wealth.<\/p>\n

        The second thing I think may be going on in this passage is that James is speaking to those who are persecuting the church.\u00a0\u00a0James is writing at a time in history when persecution of Christians was widespread and vicious across the Roman empire.\u00a0\u00a0James himself would later be martyred for his faith .\u00a0\u00a0James\u2019 words in verses\u00a01-6 may\u00a0also be a diatribe against persecutors of Christians.\u00a0\u00a0James is saying that although at this time Christians are weeping, wailing, being eaten alive by animals in coliseums, and set on fire, it is their persecutors who will suffer in the end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6960"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6963,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6960\/revisions\/6963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}