family devotions: James 4.13 - 5.11

~ The Practical Atheist: Part One ~

James 4.13-17

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

In James 4 and the beginning of James 5, James targets two kinds of 'fake Christians': those who love the world and those who pervert the gospel. The structure of this passage forms a chiasm:

  4.1-10: Warnings for those who Love the World

    4.11-12: Warnings for the Judaizers

  4.13-5.6: Warnings for those who Love the World

In chiasms, the central part - that which is bracketed - is the most important; in this case, the most dire warning is held out against the Judaizers. This makes sense, for rejecting the gospel or living contrary to its message is one thing, but twisting and perverting the gospel - and leading others astray - is quite another. In 4.13 to 5.6 James puts 'flesh and blood' on those who love the world, using a hypothetical example of an arrogant businessman who builds his wealthy empire on the backs of others. This man, though apparently claiming to love God and follow Jesus, is living as a practical atheist: he lives as if God doesn't exist. In James' example, this practical atheism takes two forms: living as if you're in control of your destiny and using this life to pursue your ambitions at the expense of those around you.

God is sovereign and has control over our lives. The boastful arrogance of the presumptuous businessman shows that while he may claim to believe God is sovereign, he lives as if he's in control of his own life. He lives absent an awareness of God's sovereign presence. James isn't saying that making plans is wrong; after all, the Bible tells us to be wise stewards of our time, and laziness and foolishness is condemned from Genesis to Revelation. The issue here isn't that the businessman is planning his business but that he's living as if he's in charge of his own life. He's living as a practical atheist. James says that living in such a way ignores two facts: we aren't in control (none of us knows what will happen tomorrow) and we are vapors, here today and gone tomorrow. The idea of us being ephemeral vapors on this earth is an idea that's littered throughout scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments. Here are just a few examples: 

Psalm 102.11 - My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.

Psalm 90.12 - So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 39.5 - Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah

Job 14.1-2 - Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not.

The Book of Ecclesiastes reads like a survey of King Solomon's accomplishments coupled with a treatise on repentance. Through his life experiences he gained wisdom, learning that wealth, pleasure, and accomplishments are empty. In Ecclesiastes 12.13-14 he gives his conclusion: 'Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.' The boastful businessman in James 4 lives like Solomon: he's ignoring his mortality and (as we will see in James 5) building a kingdom of his own on the backs of others. In both respects he is living as an atheist: he doesn't fear God and he doesn't obey His commandments. All Christians ought to spend their days cognizant of God's presence, honoring and revering Him as their Creator, and obeying Him. The practical atheist does none of this, showing that he doesn't really believe what he thinks he believes. He is self-deceived, which James warns about in 1.22: 'Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”'

~ The Practical Atheist: Part Two ~

James 5.1-6

Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are coming on you. Your riches have rotted and your clothing has become moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure! Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person, although he does not resist you.

Who is James addressing in this passage? Here the chapter break does us a disservice, implying that James is moving to new content. This isn't the case: he's still addressing the practical atheist, the rich man addressed at the end of James 4. This rich man builds his wealth by exploiting others and spending that wealth on luxuriant, self-indulgent living. James isn't simply condemning people who have money, for wealth in and of itself isn't bad. The Corinthian church met in the home of a wealthy man, and many of Jesus' followers - particularly his women followers - were wealthy. The Bible presents wealth as a gift from God that is part of His provision and is to be used wisely for God's kingdom. The Bible condemns wealth when (a) it is made by unjust means and (b) when it is used frivolously and sinfully. The rich condemned here are those who acquire wealth by unjust means and spend it sinfully.

The wealth which such people have accumulated is their only treasure, and not only will it evaporate on Judgment Day, but it will even testify against them before the throne of God. This is coupled with the cries of those who've been exploited; our just and compassionate God hears their cries and will execute judgment against their oppressors. James calls God but His name 'Lord of Hosts,' identifying Him as the God of the angelic armies. The picture is of God going to war against the oppressors and bloodily defeating them. Their lifestyle of oppression and luxury has fattened their hearts for a day of slaughter, and they will experience that slaughter on Judgment Day. 

~ A Word to the Oppressed ~

James 5.7-11

So be patient, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s return. Think of how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the ground and is patient for it until it receives the early and late rains. You also be patient and strengthen your hearts, for the Lord’s return is near. Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be judged. See, the judge stands before the gates! As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name. Think of how we regard as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and you have seen the Lord’s purpose, that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

It's likely that many to whom this letter was written made a meager living by working for exploitive bosses like the ones condemned above. How are oppressed Christians to live? James writes that oppressed Christians are to be patient, waiting for God's sure judgment on their oppressors; they are to endure, and to do so without complaining, hoping in the future of God's new heavens and new earth. It is a good thing to long for Judgment Day, for on that day God will judge all evil and all evildoers. It is a good thing to rejoice in the righteous judgments of the Lord. 

James writes that the Christians aren't to 'grumble' or complain. This is an easy thing to do when under oppression, but complaining is condemned throughout the scriptures. Even in tough times, even when under oppression, we aren't to complain. Complaining is bad because it comes from an ungrateful heart that is ignorant of God's provisions; it's saying that God has failed to be faithful; it's saying that if we were God, we would do things better. When the Israelites complained in the desert wanderings because God didn't provide for them the way they liked, God responded to their ungrateful grumbling by killing a good many of them. Their complaint wasn't empty, as it was against God (Exodus 16.8). We have several commands in the New Testament against complaining, such as Philippians 2.14-16: 'Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.'

James shows the oppressed Christians how to endure by giving two examples: the prophets and Job. More often than not the Old Testament prophets lived in hard times in which God's people were oppressed under foreign rulers or ungodly kings; many of these prophets felt the full wrath of oppressive regimes. Elijah was hunted like a dog; Jeremiah was mocked and imprisoned; and Isaiah was likely sawed in half alive by King Manasseh. These prophets endured hard times with patience as they longed for the future when God would set everything right. The person of Job suffered grievously, losing everything he loved except his life (and it got to the point where he wanted to lose even that, cursing the very day he was conceived). He endured his trials, and the outcome was that God returned to him all he had lost, and with increase! Oppressed Christians are to endure their oppression with patience and without complaining, looking forward to the day when their oppressors are judged and they are rewarded for their endurance. Jesus promises this day will come in Matthew 18.28-29: 'And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that in the renewal of the world, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me—you also will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields on account of my name will receive a hundred times as much, and will inherit eternal life.'