1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,180 Okay, this is James for Beginners: Practical Christianity, lesson number 9 in this series. 2 00:00:09,180 --> 00:00:14,860 Title of this lesson, Who's the Boss? Who's the Boss? And we will cover 3 00:00:14,860 --> 00:00:19,700 quite a bit of territory tonight, chapter 4, verse 13 and 4 00:00:19,700 --> 00:00:25,680 we'll try to get all the way to chapter 5, verse 6. 5 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:29,949 Have you ever noticed that we always take God into 6 00:00:29,949 --> 00:00:33,530 consideration when we are sick? Notice all the prayer requests? 7 00:00:33,530 --> 00:00:36,600 Eighty percent of those prayer requests are always for 8 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:40,100 people who are sick, having surgery of some kind. 9 00:00:40,100 --> 00:00:42,540 If we're having trouble in our relationships, 10 00:00:42,540 --> 00:00:47,517 you'll hear the person say well, we need to make important decisions in our marriage. 11 00:00:47,517 --> 00:00:49,859 Usually, they are having problems, 12 00:00:49,860 --> 00:00:54,220 troubles in the relationship. 13 00:00:54,220 --> 00:01:01,420 We pray about church things, Father let us grow, help us to expand the youth group all those type of things. 14 00:01:01,420 --> 00:01:07,140 But we rarely consider His sovereignty in business affairs. 15 00:01:07,140 --> 00:01:15,860 I have not yet one time heard a prayer request by anyone in this congregation in the last seven years 16 00:01:15,860 --> 00:01:23,120 that actually requested help or some kind of wisdom for their business. 17 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:25,940 For their financial affairs. 18 00:01:25,940 --> 00:01:30,340 We pray over meals, we pray for the sick, we pray for the poor, 19 00:01:30,340 --> 00:01:39,080 but when was the last time we saw a prayer offered over a business deal? 20 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:45,500 So in his epistle, James tells us that failure to go to God in prayer about business dealings, 21 00:01:45,500 --> 00:01:50,520 failure to consider Him as Lord over our financial affairs, 22 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:54,120 will lead us to three 23 00:01:54,120 --> 00:02:03,760 dangerous outcomes. And that's really the kind of the meat of this particular lesson. The first of which is, 24 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:05,290 arrogance. 25 00:02:05,290 --> 00:02:08,700 Arrogance is a feeling of superiority. 26 00:02:08,700 --> 00:02:15,240 The making of great claims, boasting of our worth without regard to God. 27 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,720 And basically, James is saying, failure to go to God. 28 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:25,060 When talking and when thinking and when planning about financial or business affairs 29 00:02:25,060 --> 00:02:30,220 has a sense of arrogance about it. 30 00:02:30,220 --> 00:02:33,100 "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow 31 00:02:33,100 --> 00:02:41,960 we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." 32 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:49,220 So he says, making plans for the future without considering God is arrogant because 33 00:02:49,220 --> 00:02:57,840 who knows or who can guarantee the future, except God. 34 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:04,820 James says, that these business people plan as if they were in control. 35 00:03:04,820 --> 00:03:10,120 He's, kind of, not quoting, but he's paraphrasing what some people are saying - we're going to do this. 36 00:03:10,129 --> 00:03:13,219 We're going to go for a year over here. We're going to make some money. 37 00:03:13,220 --> 00:03:18,540 As if they knew what was going to happen in a year. 38 00:03:18,540 --> 00:03:23,260 In reality, life is not so sure. 39 00:03:23,260 --> 00:03:29,620 Right? Verse 14, he says, "Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. 40 00:03:29,620 --> 00:03:36,260 You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." 41 00:03:36,260 --> 00:03:45,420 In reality, James says, life is not so sure. It's like a vapor, very fragile. Here today, gone tomorrow, 42 00:03:45,420 --> 00:03:48,220 forgotten to two days later. 43 00:03:48,220 --> 00:03:53,280 Have you ever been in a restaurant or sometimes in the bathrooms they put up this old- 44 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:59,385 fashioned wallpaper, and on the wallpaper they have products from long ago, like a hundred years ago 45 00:03:59,385 --> 00:04:01,400 or something like that. All these 46 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:06,700 interesting quaint soaps and lotions, and washing machines where you have to crank by hand 47 00:04:06,700 --> 00:04:08,500 and that's so cute. 48 00:04:08,500 --> 00:04:16,710 We can't even relate to any of these products and yet at the time these were the things that people were 49 00:04:16,710 --> 00:04:21,920 using. These were businesses that were employing many, many people. 50 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:28,240 I remember working for a - before I went into preaching - I worked for a company where we imported 51 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:35,100 musical instruments, and we gave lessons and designed workbooks for students. 52 00:04:35,100 --> 00:04:41,160 We had designed a brand new workbook, a new method, if you wish, and we had sent it to a graphic artist, 53 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:47,380 who was going to print it up for us. Well, the graphic artist, he had this Letra set, it was called Letra set. 54 00:04:47,380 --> 00:04:51,260 It was these sheets with letters on it, and he had like a little knife, 55 00:04:51,260 --> 00:04:55,840 and he would lay the Letra set down and he, one letter at a time, 56 00:04:55,840 --> 00:05:02,380 everything was so tedious. It took him days and months to lay out the entire book. 57 00:05:02,380 --> 00:05:08,880 Well, his job was obsolete in a heartbeat once computers came out. 58 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:15,180 What used to take him a month to do what could be done in a day with someone who had a computer. 59 00:05:15,180 --> 00:05:19,000 And yet, he had his future laid out. Yeah, I'm going to get my own 60 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:25,400 business, and I'm going to hire some guys, instead of me working by myself with the little knife and the little Letra set, 61 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:30,800 one letter at a time. I'm going to hire five people to do that. I'm going to multiply my production. 62 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:34,600 He didn't know what was coming down the pike 63 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:40,100 for his business. And that's what James is saying, you don't know what'll happen tomorrow. 64 00:05:40,100 --> 00:05:46,040 In verse 15 he says, "Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, 65 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:51,020 we will live and also do this or do that." 66 00:05:51,020 --> 00:05:55,680 Because what we do, we do because God permits it. 67 00:05:55,680 --> 00:06:01,920 We live because God permits us another day, and He does so in order to store up 68 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:05,380 for vengeance or for blessings. 69 00:06:05,380 --> 00:06:12,140 Recently, we've just heard in the last day an actor in a popular 70 00:06:12,140 --> 00:06:17,340 television series, Alan Thicke, 71 00:06:17,340 --> 00:06:21,889 passed away, sixty-nine years old. They showed a picture of him, just like two weeks ago. 72 00:06:21,889 --> 00:06:26,380 At a thing, at a hollywood thing that he was at. 73 00:06:26,380 --> 00:06:35,600 Handsome man, didn't look his age at all. Trim. Had all his hair. Some of us could be jealous. 74 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:41,060 He died how? He was playing hockey with his 19 year old son, and 75 00:06:41,060 --> 00:06:46,200 had a massive heart attack and died. His calendar was full with appearances. 76 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:50,400 I'm going to be here, and then there's this event, and then I think I'm scheduled to 77 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:56,660 do this, and his agent was planning things for him. 78 00:06:56,660 --> 00:07:02,620 I guarantee you when he woke up in the morning on that day, the only thing he had on his calendar 79 00:07:02,620 --> 00:07:10,200 was that he was going to play sports with his son. Dying was not part of the equation on that day. 80 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:17,920 And yet, God didn't give him another day. This was his last day. And that's what James is saying. 81 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:24,170 Verse 16, "But as it is, you boast in your arrogance and all such boasting is evil." 82 00:07:24,170 --> 00:07:30,000 Pretending that one has control of the future to the extent of boasting about 83 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:36,120 what one will do with the future, is evil indeed. Is arrogant indeed. 84 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:40,920 It's not that we can't make plans. We have to make plans of course. 85 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:48,240 But to assume that we have the future, this is where the arrogance comes in. 86 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:57,140 Verse 17, "Therefore," he says, "to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin." 87 00:07:57,140 --> 00:08:03,380 Now we use this - this is like a general purpose phrase here that we use all over the place, 88 00:08:03,380 --> 00:08:06,200 but in context, 89 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:09,840 knowing, the one who knows the right thing. 90 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:14,540 The right thing here is the knowledge that we don't have the future. 91 00:08:14,540 --> 00:08:18,340 If you know that there is a God and God gives you one day at a time 92 00:08:18,340 --> 00:08:25,500 and you don't own the future and you ought to be respectful to God about the future and you ignore that, 93 00:08:25,500 --> 00:08:32,220 then for you that's sin. That's the context of this particular one. 94 00:08:32,220 --> 00:08:36,740 The Christian needs to know 95 00:08:36,740 --> 00:08:44,680 that the future is in God's hand and his plans for the future need to be put into God's hands first, 96 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:51,260 whatever those plans are. Whether our business fails or succeeds, this is not the point, 97 00:08:51,260 --> 00:08:53,240 from a spiritual perspective. 98 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:57,940 What determines our guilt or innocence before God in this area is 99 00:08:57,940 --> 00:09:04,120 not the success or failure, it is whether we have put the matter into His hands or not. 100 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:13,580 Not to do so is a sign of arrogance. That's what James is getting at here. 101 00:09:13,580 --> 00:09:19,386 God doesn't judge you based on how well you've succeeded or failed in your business. 102 00:09:19,386 --> 00:09:21,460 He's not looking at the books. 103 00:09:21,460 --> 00:09:24,220 Maybe He's looking at the books to make sure you're honest, 104 00:09:24,220 --> 00:09:27,717 but He's not looking at the books to judge you based on how much money - 105 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:30,600 you don't get an extra passage to Heaven 106 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:34,040 if you've got a fat bank account when you leave Earth. 107 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:41,060 James is saying that the way that you please God is that you lay the future in His hands. 108 00:09:41,060 --> 00:09:48,060 Another thing that this produces is greed. Remember I said three dangers. Another thing this produces is greed. 109 00:09:48,060 --> 00:09:57,900 Greed is the attitude where one is never satisfied. There's never enough money. 110 00:09:57,900 --> 00:10:02,380 There is never enough power. There's never enough control. 111 00:10:02,380 --> 00:10:05,280 Never enough. 112 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:12,640 Never enough. It is the failure to control the natural desire to acquire, and the pleasure that comes 113 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:17,860 with it. That's what greed is. Rich people are greedy, poor people are greedy. 114 00:10:17,860 --> 00:10:23,460 It's not a question of rich and poor. It's a question of the condition of a person's soul. 115 00:10:23,460 --> 00:10:31,760 So the Christian needs to be wary of greed in his business dealings because the greedy rich will be punished. 116 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:34,400 We're not punished because we are rich. 117 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:41,260 We're punished because we are greedy, big difference there. And so, in verse 1 of the next 118 00:10:41,260 --> 00:10:49,640 chapter he says, "Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you." 119 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:56,480 James warns the greedy rich of the judgment that is coming, and if they knew 120 00:10:56,480 --> 00:10:58,840 they would start to weep now. 121 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:00,570 That's his point. 122 00:11:00,570 --> 00:11:05,900 Versus two to three, he says, "Your riches have rotted and your garments have 123 00:11:05,900 --> 00:11:11,920 moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness 124 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:20,180 against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!" 125 00:11:20,180 --> 00:11:25,520 So these verses, he describes the danger of greed. 126 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:35,040 The true condition of earthly wealth is that it's already rotting away, and one day it will be destroyed forever. 127 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:42,480 Greed has a way of tying us to wealth and thus keeping us prisoners of things. 128 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:49,740 Ever know people who are prisoners of things, they can't let things go. 129 00:11:49,740 --> 00:11:57,600 The point is that those tied to things will ultimately be destroyed along with their things. 130 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:03,520 If you're tied to things in this world, you better watch out, because the Bible says 131 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:06,860 everything will be consumed, right? At the end of the world, 132 00:12:06,860 --> 00:12:09,840 everything will burn up. 133 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:17,220 All things will be burned up. Imagine if you're tied to your things, you can't let go of your things. 134 00:12:17,220 --> 00:12:24,340 When Christ appears, in order to reveal the glory of heavenly and eternal things, 135 00:12:24,340 --> 00:12:32,480 the worthlessness of earthly treasures will be revealed and this revelation will be the testimony or the 136 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:35,120 accusation against the greedy rich. 137 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:39,800 Not just the rich, the greedy rich. 138 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:44,680 And so he's saying, they set their hearts on worthless things which 139 00:12:44,680 --> 00:12:52,040 demonstrated the value of their own hopes. Their hopes are in vain. If your hope rests on things, 140 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:55,980 you don't have any hope. 141 00:12:55,980 --> 00:13:02,960 James says they'll be destroyed along with their things or along with their wealth. 142 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:09,120 Then the third thing he talks about is, injustice. 143 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:20,280 The three dangers of not considering God in affairs of finance or business: arrogance, greed, injustice. 144 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:26,880 Arrogance and greed are the basic attitudes to watch out for in money and business matters. 145 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:35,420 Injustice is the overt sin that one does against another because of our arrogance and greed. 146 00:13:35,420 --> 00:13:45,700 In verse 4 he says, "Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, 147 00:13:45,700 --> 00:13:50,900 cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the 148 00:13:50,900 --> 00:13:55,820 harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." 149 00:13:55,820 --> 00:14:03,220 So those who become rich by depriving others of what is their do. In other words, cheating, lying, extortion, 150 00:14:03,220 --> 00:14:12,920 manipulation, fraud. People who make their wealth in this way, these are the people he's talking about. 151 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:19,300 So James, he pictures a rich farmer holding back some of the salary of his poor laborers on 152 00:14:19,300 --> 00:14:23,780 some pretext. And he says that the wages, themselves, 153 00:14:23,780 --> 00:14:30,660 cry out to God for justice, and will be a voice condemning a judgment. It's quite picturesque. 154 00:14:30,660 --> 00:14:32,880 He's not saying that the laborers are crying out, 155 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:40,780 he's saying the money that the rich landowner owes these people, that money is crying out to God. 156 00:14:40,780 --> 00:14:49,540 That money will be the witness against the rich, greedy landowner in judgment. 157 00:14:49,540 --> 00:14:52,440 Very tremendous imagery there. 158 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:57,000 The Lord of Sabaoth, that's not the Sabbath, by the way. 159 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:03,260 The Lord of Sabaoth means the Lord of hosts, the Lord of the armies. 160 00:15:03,260 --> 00:15:08,520 That term speaks to the power of the judge, which is God. 161 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:14,020 Who's the judge and what kind of power does he have? Well, he's the Lord of Sabaoth. 162 00:15:14,020 --> 00:15:16,080 Meaning, he's the Lord of the armies of Heaven. 163 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:25,450 He's the Lord of hosts. You better be careful, because He has all the power necessary to judge anyone who is rich. 164 00:15:25,450 --> 00:15:33,008 Anyone who is powerful. And He's capable of punishing and He's capable of exacting Justice, 165 00:15:33,008 --> 00:15:35,500 when Justice will be required. 166 00:15:35,500 --> 00:15:41,080 Of course, we live in a free country. 167 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:48,820 We can travel where we want to, marry who we wish, we eat what we - the government - 168 00:15:48,820 --> 00:15:52,440 I know some people think it's too intrusive, but really, compared to some other nations, 169 00:15:52,440 --> 00:16:02,920 we are free in this country to be and do as we say, as we please. James was not writing here to Americans. 170 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:05,780 This is in the first century. 171 00:16:05,780 --> 00:16:12,840 He's writing to a world where most of the people are either enslaved or have no rights whatsoever. 172 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:19,080 There is no "middle class". There are the ones in power and those who are wealthy, 173 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:24,760 and then they are the rest, the military class, and then the rest are just the poor. 174 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:36,440 So this was quite an indictment. Reading this in the church, in the first century was powerful stuff and 175 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:41,020 there were people in the church who were wealthy. 176 00:16:41,020 --> 00:16:48,280 This was quite a calling out of those individuals, if they were not doing 177 00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:54,623 what they needed to do in the name of the Lord. So he goes on in verse 5 and he says, "You have lived 178 00:16:54,623 --> 00:17:00,020 luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts 179 00:17:00,020 --> 00:17:01,720 in a day of slaughter." 180 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:03,840 So the imagery here again, 181 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:06,880 you feed an animal to fatten him up, 182 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:10,480 looking towards the day that you're going to slaughter him. The poor 183 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:14,820 beast, he doesn't even know what's going to happen to him. It's a fool's paradise man. 184 00:17:14,820 --> 00:17:21,840 Look at this free food. They're giving me food all the time. I get to eat all the time. That's wonderful. 185 00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:26,680 Obviously, I'm joking here. 186 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:31,500 The rancher knows why 187 00:17:31,500 --> 00:17:36,280 he's feeding that animal. He's getting them ready for slaughter. He wants them to be fat. 188 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,690 Well, this image is carried over by James. 189 00:17:39,690 --> 00:17:46,460 He's saying, the arrogant rich who feed themselves on luxury at the expense of the poor are, 190 00:17:46,460 --> 00:17:56,260 in effect, being fed by their own greed, preparing themselves for their own slaughter, at judgment. 191 00:17:56,260 --> 00:18:03,700 Go ahead, God says. Go ahead, ignore me. Go ahead, feed yourself on this world. Go ahead, get nice and fat. 192 00:18:03,700 --> 00:18:08,640 Cheat, lie, steal. 193 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:11,260 Sure, go ahead and do that. 194 00:18:11,260 --> 00:18:17,540 You're just getting yourself ready for the judgment. In verse 6 he says, 195 00:18:17,540 --> 00:18:22,620 "You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you." 196 00:18:22,620 --> 00:18:29,440 I mean, their ultimate sin of injustice is the death of the innocent who are unable to defend themselves. 197 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:37,220 The helpless poor are sacrificed in order to preserve the wealth of the greedy rich. I said we live in America 198 00:18:37,220 --> 00:18:42,280 and I'm not saying this doesn't happen anymore, of course it happens. 199 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:50,100 It just happens less in this country than it does in other countries. I mean you look at countries in Africa - 200 00:18:50,100 --> 00:18:54,200 never mind, look at countries like Haiti. 201 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:57,900 I mean, all other nations went to Haiti and 202 00:18:57,900 --> 00:19:02,420 they made deals with the rich of that island and they completely 203 00:19:02,420 --> 00:19:08,680 raped that island of all of its natural resources. They took everything out of the ground that you could take, 204 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:16,480 made themselves rich and left, and now you have an island of people who have no natural 205 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:24,080 resources with which to, kind of, trade, to lift themselves out of dire poverty. 206 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:30,080 James is saying to the people who did that, the people in thousand-dollar suits, in big boardrooms, 207 00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:41,600 who are dealing politely and graciously with one another, in high society, he's saying to these people, your time will come. 208 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:46,000 Your time will come. 209 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:52,460 So this is the ultimate injustice caused by arrogance and greed. 210 00:19:52,460 --> 00:19:58,040 Just like murder is the ultimate sin of anger and resentment. 211 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:02,300 Adultery is the ultimate sin of lust. 212 00:20:02,300 --> 00:20:09,830 Death of the poor is the ultimate sin of injustice caused by greed and arrogance. 213 00:20:09,830 --> 00:20:20,760 And as I mentioned, history is full of examples of the poor being trampled underfoot by greedy and arrogant wealth. 214 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:26,020 James warns those who are involved in business 215 00:20:26,020 --> 00:20:32,480 to be careful in their affairs because they're always in danger of falling into the sins of arrogance and greed 216 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:34,540 and injustice. 217 00:20:34,540 --> 00:20:43,540 These, he says, will be punished by God. And one of the major dangers of wealth that - 218 00:20:43,540 --> 00:20:48,220 and compared to the people he's talking to, we're the wealthy. 219 00:20:48,220 --> 00:20:53,280 We, you and I, we're the wealthy ones in this world. 220 00:20:53,280 --> 00:21:00,700 We're able to drink coffee for a buck a cup because some child is picking coffee beans for a dollar a day 221 00:21:00,700 --> 00:21:02,560 somewhere. 222 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:10,080 We're able to buy cheap electronics because somebody is working at four dollars an hour somewhere else, 223 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:12,669 under terrible conditions. 224 00:21:12,669 --> 00:21:15,960 So we can pay - man, 4KTV, 8KTV, oh man 225 00:21:15,970 --> 00:21:19,360 I bought this sucker for six-hundred dollars, what a deal. 226 00:21:19,360 --> 00:21:29,800 How did that happen? Well, that happens because people are paid slave wages in other nations. 227 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:32,600 The danger with wealth, 228 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:39,800 whether it's individual wealth or corporate wealth, like we have in this country, is that it tends to create a 229 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:45,640 bubble around us that makes us immune to the suffering of other people. 230 00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:51,160 It's only when you travel or in the military you go to other countries, and you see how people live. 231 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,960 You actually see it. 232 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:57,220 That opens your eyes. 233 00:21:57,220 --> 00:22:07,080 But that's the great danger here in America. Here in America the great danger to our collective souls is not 234 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:12,920 sexual perversion, I mean there's plenty of that; or alcohol, or drugs. 235 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:18,760 No. The greatest danger to our collective souls in America is worldliness. 236 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:22,500 Stuff. 237 00:22:22,500 --> 00:22:26,540 Everywhere I look they're building more, what? 238 00:22:26,540 --> 00:22:33,020 They're building more storage places. Why? Because people have so much junk. 239 00:22:33,020 --> 00:22:43,580 They not only have enough room for the junk in their houses, now they have to actually rent space to keep their junk. 240 00:22:43,580 --> 00:22:54,180 Talk about tied to your stuff. That's the danger in our nation, for all of us, me included. 241 00:22:54,180 --> 00:23:02,460 So as Christians involved in business, and for us - Now, I don't see a lot of independent business people here. 242 00:23:02,460 --> 00:23:07,480 I see people who work for the government or work for hospitals and that. We're kind of a working-class 243 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,600 church here. 244 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:17,800 So for people who have their own business or who have financial dealings, 245 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:21,960 what should our attitude be? 246 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:32,600 Number one, bring all matters, all matters, including business and financial matters, before God in prayer. 247 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:40,740 Realize that He alone holds the future in His hands. This is the mark of a wise and humble 248 00:23:40,740 --> 00:23:44,280 man or woman in Christ. 249 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:50,760 Prayer is always the business man's first step. 250 00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:53,560 A businessman a businesswoman, 251 00:23:53,560 --> 00:24:02,080 should be a man or woman of prayer. And this is where my title comes from. In business, God is the boss. 252 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:06,320 He's the boss. 253 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:15,480 Number two, recognize that God distributes wealth as a tool for service towards others, 254 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:21,000 not as something to hoard up for our own security and pleasure. 255 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:28,000 Let's read Second Corinthians 6 to 11. He says, "Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, 256 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:33,040 and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 257 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:40,340 Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful 258 00:24:40,340 --> 00:24:47,120 giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency 259 00:24:47,120 --> 00:24:51,860 in everything, you may have an abundance for every good 260 00:24:51,860 --> 00:24:59,100 deed; as it is written, he scatters abroad he gave to the poor his righteousness endures forever now 261 00:24:59,100 --> 00:25:07,020 he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and 262 00:25:07,020 --> 00:25:13,300 increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, 263 00:25:13,300 --> 00:25:20,460 which through us is producing thanksgiving to God." Kind of a long passage. 264 00:25:20,460 --> 00:25:25,300 Basically, Paul is speaking to the Corinthian church here about their offerings at church. 265 00:25:25,300 --> 00:25:37,240 And he's saying, God gives us abundance so we can provide for ourselves first and for others. 266 00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:38,300 Why? 267 00:25:38,300 --> 00:25:47,920 Because this gives glory to God, because those you help will bless Him because of the generosity of His children. 268 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:53,050 So God gives to you and you are saying, thank you, 269 00:25:53,050 --> 00:25:57,789 God, I have enough for myself and I have enough to give to someone else. 270 00:25:57,789 --> 00:26:01,080 And that person who receives from you will also be 271 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:02,230 thanking God. Dear God, 272 00:26:02,230 --> 00:26:10,240 thank you for the generosity of my brother or this sister who has helped me in my time of need. It's like He gets 273 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:22,040 thanksgiving and glory from two people. He's doubling the glory, doubling the thanksgiving, doubling the joy. 274 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:35,460 And then secondly, this protects the Christian against greed and selfishness. 275 00:26:35,460 --> 00:26:49,040 Yeah, giving is not about what you do for somebody else necessarily, it's not only about that. 276 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:53,280 What I give to the church will enable the church to do this and support missionaries 277 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:54,870 and do the work of the Lord. 278 00:26:54,870 --> 00:26:55,940 It's about that. 279 00:26:55,940 --> 00:26:57,600 Yes, it is about that, 280 00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:06,980 but we also have another - there is also another reason for the giving. God is reminding us through James, 281 00:27:06,980 --> 00:27:10,080 giving protects us. 282 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:16,460 It protects us against selfishness, 283 00:27:16,460 --> 00:27:20,800 against self-centeredness, against being greedy. 284 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:23,260 When we keep everything we get, 285 00:27:23,260 --> 00:27:30,080 when we hoard every single thing that we like and that we want, and nobody can have any of it, 286 00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:34,120 we're not doing ourselves any favors. 287 00:27:34,120 --> 00:27:44,320 We're reinforcing greed. We're reinforcing selfishness. 288 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:50,040 John Wesley, the Wesleyan church, 289 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:56,980 John Wesley died with only two hundred dollars in his bank account. 290 00:27:56,980 --> 00:28:05,320 Now remember, 1703. In the 1700s, two-hundred dollars was still a considerable amount of money, 291 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:08,340 but not a fortune. 292 00:28:08,340 --> 00:28:17,320 Two-hundred bucks. In his lifetime, however, he gave away a total of five million dollars, 293 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:23,160 in order to start orphanages and other benevolent works. 294 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:29,740 That's almost like 50 to one hundred million dollars today. Gave it away. 295 00:28:29,740 --> 00:28:38,434 He was a dynamic businessman and a powerful man for good works. Someone once asked him what 296 00:28:38,434 --> 00:28:41,300 his secret for success was? 297 00:28:41,300 --> 00:28:44,260 And here's his answer: 298 00:28:44,260 --> 00:28:55,120 "I fling money out of my hands as quickly as possible, lest it find its way into my heart." 299 00:28:55,120 --> 00:29:03,080 Where your treasure is, that's where your heart will be. 300 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:08,440 If your treasure is money or things, 301 00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:13,040 that's where your heart will be. That's what your heart will be set on. 302 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:17,280 That's where your heart will beat a little faster. 303 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:21,000 Over money or things. 304 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:25,260 I pray that when it comes to business, 305 00:29:25,260 --> 00:29:30,580 Jesus will always be in control of our hearts, and not money. 306 00:29:30,580 --> 00:29:37,840 Hopefully, we'll be, all of us, able to avoid arrogance or greed or 307 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:43,500 the uncontrolled desire to constantly acquire. 308 00:29:43,500 --> 00:29:50,220 It's not easy, brothers and sisters, because we live in a society where we are bombarded, 309 00:29:50,220 --> 00:29:56,100 24-hours a day, on our phones, on TV, and our tablets, our 310 00:29:56,100 --> 00:30:04,420 mailboxes. I mean, buy this, buy this, do this, get another one of these, two for one, forty percent off. 311 00:30:04,420 --> 00:30:10,140 Does Kohl's ever sell anything full price, right? 312 00:30:10,140 --> 00:30:16,680 And heaven help you if you buy stuff online. What happens if you buy stuff online? 313 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:22,340 Oh man. I mean, your phone, after that, the pop-ups for you. The thing I bought three years ago, 314 00:30:22,340 --> 00:30:29,720 I've seen 75 different versions of it popping up in my email and in my messages, because they've got my number. 315 00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:36,960 I like golf stuff. 316 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:42,300 So let's be careful with that. Next week, the last lesson in this particular 317 00:30:42,300 --> 00:30:50,518 series is entitled, 4 P.S.'s From James. All right, that's our lesson for tonight. 318 00:30:50,518 --> 00:30:54,380 Thank you very much for your attention.