Chapter nineteen
Mr. D's Notes on James
James 5.1-6
Copyright 2006
Rev.
One of my relatives owned his own business, working hard,
keeping everything going smoothly throughout his life. He poured many long
hours, or you might say his life into the business looking forward to his
retirement. He and his wife had a nice home, furniture and cars.
He had two children but they weren't offered any help
from their father, because he was laying his riches away for the future. He did
nothing to benefit others with his money, and didn't benefit himself very much.
They lived fairly modestly for the wealth that they had accumulated.
One day someone found one hundred dollar bills lying
around the alley behind his garage. He had forgotten to close his safe and the
neighbor kids had found the open safe and were playing with the money.
He had a foul mouth and condemned anyone that did good
for others. His brother-in-law was a minister, but I did not know this until
the man's funeral.
When retirement age arrived, he sold his business for a
great deal of money and set out to enjoy his gain. Within six months the man
was laying in a hospital with terminal lung cancer that had spread to his
brain. He never left the hospital, though he lived another several months.
Slaving his entire life to gain riches, he laid up stores
in earthly investments, not looking at his eternal bank account.
He didn't get to enjoy his hard earned riches
Oh, how this man fits this passage of Scripture. It was
of interest that only after he had been stripped of all desire for his wealth
and stripped of his health did he consider spiritual things. God in His
infinite grace reached down through a born again Presbyterian pastor to touch
this man's life for himself. The pastor mentioned in the funeral sermon that
the man had opened his heart to God.
And the heavy blast strikes the reader. Oh, how
appropriate to our own day. The rich in James day were probably the middle
class of our day. Weep and howl for your miseries - this guy isn't nice. Your
riches are polluted and your clothes are rotting off your back. Moth-eaten -
doesn’t James know how offensive it is to intimate that you have moths in your
home. When I was a kid that was like admitting you had mice or lice in the
house.
James really lays out his thinking to the rich. The rich
must have been way off base spiritually. We might make note that these were
people that had not had a lot of good preaching down at First Baptist on the corner;
they were saved but for the most part not well grounded in the Word. Jews with
an Old Testament background, but no real New Testament teaching it would seem.
Their pastor wasn't a graduate of
How does this link to the previous context might be your
question. He has just pointed out that the planning without God is improper.
Several commentators assume that he was speaking to Jewish businessmen of the
day that would go to a different location and make a fortune and return home.
If this is the case, then he is just continuing to point
out the folly of their way of life in an attempt to get the men to change their
ways and to conform to the proper Christian living principles set forth.
This rather ties in well with the whole thought of the
book - not giving preference to the rich etc. It would seem the rich were a
problem among the believers in these churches.
1 Go to now, [ye] rich men, weep and howl for your
miseries that shall come upon [you].
The verb tenses are of note in this verse. They are told
to weep, a one time act, but they are also told to howl which is a present
tense or something that was to continue. They might weep, but that turns to
howling when the full realization of their miseries is clear in their mind.
These problems are to come upon them - this is also a present tense, something
that is probably already upon the reader. "Come upon" can relate to
an attack on someone. This isn't just a problem of life, this is real misery.
"Miseries" relates to hardship and calamity. Weep and howl when your
calamity is upon you, oh rich man.
It would seem that these miseries are due to the sins of
omission in the last verse of chapter four. They knew to do good, but did not
do it, thus sinned.
Moving on, I would like to share the account of an old
man in my hometown. I do not know his name, nor do I know where he lived, but
the whole town knew the man. Every now and then he would come to town to buy
groceries and supplies. He came to town in a horse and wagon. It wasn't just a buggy;
it was a freight wagon like Charles Ingles drove in "LITTLE HOUSE ON THE
PRAIRIE" the type with just a rectangular box on four wheels and a seat on
top.
This old man would drive into town from the south on the
main paved highway. The only modern convenience his wagon appeared to have was
a triangle danger, slow-moving sign on the back - reflective of course.
His appearance rather well fit a freight wagon driver. He
was dirty, long hair with a long unkempt beard. His clothes were testament to
his lack of darkening the door of a clothing store for quite some years. His
coat had holes in it and was quite soiled.
Not a pretty sight, but it may give us some indication of
what James was getting at when he mentions the rich people's clothes were moth
eaten.
Many in that day were wealthy to the point of having
hundreds of garments; in fact one is to known to have owned over five thousand
garments.
I am told that Jackie Onasis, when alive, had an entire
large warehouse for storing her wardrobe - the out of date stuff of course. She
kept a small wardrobe in every house that they owned and in every city that
they visited.
Most would suggest, what is the purpose of buying this
many items in the first place, and why hang onto them in a warehouse in the
final place. What a waste of money and especially time, looking for them,
buying them, cleaning them and then preparing them for storage.
This idea of moth eaten is of interest in the thought of
our illustration. Imagine the rich person like Jackie Onasis hearing that the
warehouse had been invaded by moths. What a loss, what a problem. Moral of the
story, don't buy a lot of clothes so you don't have to go through such
heartache.
Before we begin the verse, I might mention that some of
the common commodities of the day were oils and grains, which spoil and rot.
This may be what James had reference to, when he mentioned, "Your riches
are corrupted."
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are
Moth-eaten.
In this verse the riches and Moth-eaten garments are in
the perfect tense, something that is corrupted and will be corrupted to the end
of the process, and the garments are Moth-eaten now and they will continue in
this Moth-eaten condition to completion - most likely the destruction of the
garment.
These are processes that are happening, are ongoing and
that will come to a final conclusion. Not much hope for the rich man's riches
and clothes.
We need to understand that riches may not mean money, but
can relate to power, position and holdings. The end is the same for all kinds
of riches - corruption.
These are most likely the miseries of verse one. The rich
weep and howl at the declining condition of their riches. One of the joys of
giving your riches away must be knowing that the money is going to a good cause
not just sitting in an investment somewhere drawing corruption.
Recently I saw Bill Gates talking about his foundation
and the tremendous good it was doing around the world. I could be mistaken but
I really felt that he was very happy at the moment as he spoke of the changed
lives. He seemed much happier than when I've seen him talking about computers
and software. There was a real peace and joy in his face and his speech.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them
shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye
have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Again, the construction of "cankered" is the
perfect - it is and it will be till the end. Rust has the thought of poison,
the poison of snakes. It is that process of poisoning your gold and silver. The
verse speaks of heaping treasures together for the last days. To the Jew of
this time, this was most likely the piling up of riches to take with them in
death. They most likely had little thought to the prophecy aspect of the last
days. One of our relatives always told everyone he was taking his money with
him, that he had ordered an asbestos coffin. Might have saved his money but
from where we are in medical research the cancer would get him from the
asbestos poisoning.
I would like to consider the gold and silver for a
moment. I think this is speaking in general of money, riches etc. Anyone that
has collected coins knows that coinage of Christ's time is still around. It
isn't in the best of condition, but the coins are still being found today. They
didn't have banks to take their money to, so many buried their money in the
back yard. They are still digging up money in the old
Let's take a quick read of Mark 10.17-25, a very familiar
account. "17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one
running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I
may inherit eternal life? 18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good?
[there is] none good but one, [that is], God. 19 Thou knowest the commandments,
Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness,
Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. 20 And he answered and said unto
him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. 21 Then Jesus beholding
him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell
whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in
heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. 22 And he was sad at that
saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. 23 And Jesus
looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that
have riches enter into the
Several things to observe. First, Christ loved the man in
the condition he was in, whether lost or saved. We don't know if he was a
believer in the Old Testament sense or not, but it would appear that he was.
Often this account is told in light of the man being lost and not willing to
give up his riches. We aren't told either of these items from the text.
If he believed, he may well have gone and sold all that
he had, we aren't told. Christ, however used the man to show that a rich man
will have a hard time entering into the kingdom. Not that he cannot, but that
he will have a hard time doing it. The costs will be great. The cost is
shifting from trusting their riches to trusting God.
That is where the middle class of
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down
your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them
which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Some of these believers actually were ripping off their
help. They were using them to reap their crops, but then cheating them in their
pay.
One must wonder of these believers that would defraud to make
gain. These were either new believers that did not know any better, or
believers that knew better, but didn't care. Both are possibilities since James
is an early letter, and we have decided the recipients were probably converts
from the day of Pentecost. However, if you consider the language of James, one
must wonder if it isn't the later possibility. He speaks quite tersely, if
encouraging believers in edification. He speaks as though he is totally
disgusted with these people and really wants to blast them to gain their
attention.
We see the rich doing this today. We have corporate
leaders that are ripping off the public in pricing as well as their own
shareholders in tacky bookkeeping. We see unions swinging power that they ought
not to have. I heard on the news this week that a union had agreed to
limitations on health care for retired workers. The union ought not to have any
say over what a man has worked for and gained. His health care provision is set
between him and the company, and the union ought not to have sway over that
agreement.
"Lord of Sabaoth" means Jehovah of hosts. Holt
in his commentary mentions that the Jews will not even utter this phrase or
name of God. (See also Deut. 24:14, 15)
5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton;
ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. 6 Ye have condemned
[and] killed the just; [and] he doth not resist you.
These verses would add to the thought that these rich
people were believers that knew better, and were living in outward rebellion
against what they knew to be right. Isn't that the context - knowing what is
good, and not doing it?
One must wonder how quiet the church assembly was when
this portion was being read. The poor and subjugated are quietly saying to
themselves, "YES!" "It is about time someone blasts these
characters." And the rich are sitting there wondering if the poor are
getting the full implication of this and wondering if they should head for the
closest exit before someone takes him down and pounds some sense into him. It
had to have been a scene of quiet and tension.
One wonders also if these rich people made good use of
James words and changed their ways. Can you imagine being confronted with such
bluntness and not making some changes in your life? Don't count on it. I have
seen sinning Christian's confronted and they have walked away as if they have
heard nothing. On the other hand, thank God for His Spirit's working in lives,
I have seen it work the other way as well. This is God's desire, He does not
like to blast a believer, but if they are living in open sin, often He will do
that which is needed to change the person's course.
May each of us, no matter what our sin, be serious about
living a righteous life. When the Spirit tweaks our conscience, let us respond
immediately to change our ways to His.
"Lived in pleasure" and "been wonton"
are very similar in meaning. The first descriptive of the lifestyle and the
second the result of that same lifestyle. They have lived to their fullest in
pleasure. We have all seen the modern day examples of this pleasure and luxury
of the rich.
I was going to use Bill Gates as an example here, but I
am not sure I should. He probably lives quite high on the hog and his new home
in the
We know that the rich and famous usually live like they
are rich, and find grand pleasure in it. The last phrase seems to go to the
extent of their pleasure and wantonness. They live as if every day is the day
the animals are slaughtered and they have all that they could possibly want or
use.
I would guess the difference is that the wonton people
are those that revel in pleasure, those that seek pleasure, and those that fail
to do other things due to their involvement in seeking pleasure. Others simply
enjoy what they have, yet have a healthy desire to live in a decent manner.
My in-laws knew the man that discovered artificial
insemination for Chickens and had made his fortune. They were members of the
same church and when visiting the in-laws one time we were invited into this couples
home. It was a larger home, it was furnished nicely, but the home was not that
uncommon for that period of time and very modest for the money that the couple
obviously had. The only real extravagance in the home that I saw was a
microwave oven. That was back when they cost over a thousand dollars and were
first on the market.
The man had one wonton part to his being however; he had
discovered an ice-cream shop that had every flavor of ice cream you could find
on earth. His passion was trying the different types of ice cream. He would go
out and come home with gallons of ice cream, pickle ice cream, bubble gum ice
cream, every ice cream one could envision.
These two people were rich, but not locked into pleasure
and wantonness, but were well grounded and just common folks. Being rich isn't
wrong, but wrong life going along with being rich can be very wrong.
We aren't told what James meant by verse six, but we can
be assured that the readers in his day knew clearly what he was talking about.
They were condemning and killing. The word for killing seems to relate to any
killing, but seems to lean toward murder more than just random killing. It may
be that they were unjustly having people killed. Indeed, the last part of the
verse would indicate this ("killed the just; [and] he doth not resist
you.").
Constable suggests that James may have been speaking
hyperbolically when he mentioned killing. He suggests that these are day
laborers and that if a person was not paid at the end of the day they could
die. He continues that if they were not paid, they could not eat, and after a
few days of not eating their strength would diminish and death would occur.
True, but I see little to indicate hyperbole in the text.
APPLICATION:
1. Wow, what an opportunity to comfort and maybe witness
to the rich, when they are howling over their tragedies and losses. Take that
opportunity, not to gloat, but to offer comfort and maybe even assistance in
their hard time.
You like comfort when having hard times, and the rich are
no different. They hurt the same way you do - just not as quickly during
financial losses. Being a friend might be just what they need. They don't need
you preaching, they need you supporting. If a good opportunity to tell them of
the Lord opens up, go ahead and share God's love, but don't start telling them
you know how they feel, or that riches are wrong anyway - that is not the
message they need to change, their lives - only the Gospel can assist in that
task.
2. This passage is partially meant for the rich, but must
have been a great encouragement for the believers that were suffering under the
hands of the rich. The caution would be that the suffering believer should not
get all high and mighty, knowing trouble is coming to the one that causes them
trouble. Probably a better reaction would be one of sorrow for what the rich
person is going to have to go through.
Man normally loves it when the bad guy gets their due,
but that isn't always the correct attitude for the believer. Putting ourselves
in their place and trying to understand what they are going through will bring
us to a proper attitude of wanting to support and assist.
I have mentioned before that our neighborhood is filled
with the poor end of society, both economically and legally. Often when someone
in a family is arrested, there is that rush of "Finally, the police are
going to do something!" However, soon you often see the rest of the family
trying to move out to some other place because they don't have money to pay the
rent.
The water, electric and gas disconnect folks ought to put
remote, radio valves and switches on the rental houses in our area, it would
save them a lot of trips out to shut off and turn on utilities.
3. Not only the rich need the following passage, but many
middle income in our day, and probably the poor as well. Our society is so
fixated on funds, things, and being that we all tend to seek riches in the
wrong area of life - the material.
Matthew 6.19 "Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through
and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth
nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For
where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Poor people seem to even have a sense of entitlement to
all that everyone else has. Even young people have fallen into this trap. A
young person almost expects that he is owed all that he/she wants or desires.
When they are out on their own, they assume that they will automatically have
everything their folks have - it is their right, my folks have it so I should
also.
They assume that if they don't have it all, that it is
their employers fault; they are not paying them enough to buy it all, so start
wanting raises or looking for a better job.
The sad part of it seems to be that businesses are
willing to give more and more to the young people because they demand it and
take and take from the older folks that have worked hard for what is being
taken away from them.
All believers need to be reminded that it is God and His
area of life, that we should concern ourselves with, not the world and all it
has to offer.
4. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown state the following of
verse six. "Ye have condemned [and] killed the just;" "Their
condemnation of Christ, "the Just," is foremost in James' mind. But
all the innocent blood shed, and to be shed is included, the Holy Spirit
comprehending James himself, called "the Just," who was slain in a
tumult."
They do not suggest any reason for taking the passage to
mean Christ; they just assume it and state it as fact. James, himself was
called "the just" but there is no reason to assume he was speaking of
himself either. I might add, however, that this passage probably came to some
believers minds when James the Just was killed for his faith later on.
5. One must consider whether these rich were saved or
unsaved. Verse seven seems to transition from the first part of the chapter
with "Be patient therefore, brethren," which indicates the first
portion is to unsaved people. Verse six also seems to draw a division between
the just and those persecuting them. The whole tone of verses one through six
seems to be to unsaved people.
The next question is whether they are part of the
assembly or not. It might be possible that James is speaking to the brethren
with this parenthetical outburst to indicate he knew what they were facing and
to encourage them, however this is a bit of a stretch for me.
Barnes follows this line when he suggests that James did
not expect the rich to actually hear the words that he spoke against them.
It is possible that the rich lost people were in the
assembly as people professing to believe. This has been a problem for the
church all through history.
It would seem, for whatever reason, that the rich, lost
people were in the assembly. Now, I see a pure, body made up of believers only,
as the Biblical standard for a church. If these rich were present in the
assembly, and they seem to be, then the church was already in the habit of
inviting lost into the assembly in the hope of bringing them to the Lord. If
true, this fallacy continues to this day.
This idea that the people invite the lost into the church
has cost the church dearly in purity as well as dollars. I was speaking to a
man that attends a large church and we spoke of the costs of the church and
apart from the building, much of the cost was programs to draw people into the
church to evangelize them. This is not the proper mode of evangelism and is
costing churches millions of dollars in buildings and programs.
Think about it, it costs big money to have the big
concerts, the secular concerts the Texas holdem events and all the other nonsense
that is put on in the name of Jesus to draw lost people into the church - to
hopefully win a few.
One church spent a couple million plus for an auditorium
so they could show secular movies to the neighborhood in the hope of
evangelizing them. Knock on their door, that is free.
I Cor. 14.23 states: "If therefore the whole church
be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in
[those that are] unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are
mad?" The church is assembled and unsaved seem to "happen" in.
This is not prohibited, but it doesn't seem to be the norm. No where is the
church described as a station of evangelism, but rather a training center for
believers, so that they mature. There is no way to have a pure church when you
invite the lost in via enticements and false motives.
6. In Verse six there is a bit of controversy. Some
suggest that "just" refers to Christ. There doesn't seem to be any
basis for this interpretation in my mind. Phillips translates it as follows:
"Yes, you have had a magnificent time on this earth, and have indulged
yourselves to the full. You have picked out just what you wanted like soldiers
looting after battle. 6. You have condemned and ruined innocent men in your
career, and they have been powerless to stop you."
Those that see "just" as Christ go on to tell
that Christ will certainly oppose the rich in the end. This is true, but there
doesn't seem to be good reason to view "just" as indicative of
Christ.
7. How might the rich, today, cause the death of the
just? Are these just situations for James day, or is there something for us
today?
I have heard, over the years, of many mining accidents
where miners were killed due to cave ins or explosions in the mine. Many of these,
later, are found to be caused by the leadership pushing the safety limits or
pushing the men and equipment to unsafe limits. This, in my mind would be a
case in point from our day where we could apply James principles.
Any accident where someone was injured or killed because
safety or correct procedures were forcibly avoided to the detriment of the
worker would fit into our thought.
If you are an employer, you need to assure the safety of
your workers and not cut corners to save a few bucks. Your workers are your
responsibility so you ought to care for them as best you can.
8. We will look at the "not resisting" topic
later, but just a few notes now. If we are not to resist, how do we relate to
the following situations?
a. If we aren't to resist can we Biblically participate
in a strike?
b. If we aren't to resist can we Biblically participate
in wage/benefit demands?
c. If we aren't to resist can we Biblically participate
in picket lines?
Apart from being involved in saying no to an employer,
you are involving yourself in everything that a union stands for which is
violence, corruption and liberal ideals. Indeed, some unions advocate great
violence. There was a teacher’s strike in
Would you, as a believer, want your name associated with
such things?
The shocking thing is that many Christians see nothing
wrong with a union, nor their activities. They take the good with the bad and
wink at the bad, dismissing it because they disagree with it.
Humm, wonder what that lost neighbor will think when he
sees you in the picket line seemingly advocating what your union does. Wonder
how inconsistent you will seem to those you work with when you bow to the union
and they know that you believe the Bible that tells you to be in submission to
your employer.
Some ramifications believers ought to consider before
backing a union in any way.
We might add to the list any sort of march or protest
rally.
Some passages to consider: I Tim. 2.1-2;
9. Not only do these rich people have the woe of being on
the wrong side of Christ and being miserable in not being happy as a rich
person, but they do not know the joy of doing good.
Not all rich are miserable, but many are. Imagine having
a billion or two lying around and wanting to spend it and enjoy it - what could
you do, you can't spend that much money, though we'd all probably enjoy trying.
Some rich people do find happiness and it is usually around doing good with
their money and having a proper attitude toward money - a case of them ruling
their money rather than it ruling them.
I'm not sure where rich begins and not rich ends, but I
do know that when your heart is here and now, there can be little true
happiness, and when your heart is where the Lord is, there is true happiness.
When a person is centered here and now, there is never
enough to satisfy the desires, be it money, power or position. When you are
centered in the heavenlies you have all that you need, are powerless to do
anything but serve Christ and in the best possible position - right where God
wants you.
10. The idea of having a ton of money, and not being able
to spend it or enjoy it must be a little bit of terrible in itself. To know you
have a couple thousand extra to spend and being unable to go out shopping -
what a frustration that must be.
I will say that the rich person that goes to his death
bed may not be too interested in trying to spend it. When you are in the
hospital and the physical is off center, you seldom look very far beyond the
physical pain and feeling of total loss of control. You are reduced to the
physical being and getting it back on track, but if death is coming that is
impossible and a large frustration, I would assume.
If, in your life's walk you encounter a rich person that
is failing, have a little compassion on them, they are going through a double
set of circumstance - loosing control of their riches as well as their physical
being.
Christians can enjoy the peace during these times that
comes with having no concern for the things of riches, and only needing to
focus on the Lord for their physical and spiritual condition.
11. I would not want anyone to think that the rich are
the only ones that assemble to themselves excess riches. Even middle income and
even poor people can amass more material items than they can use.
I subscribe to a Yahoo group of "recyclers"
that post by email anything that they want to get rid of that still works and
is useable. It is amazing what is offered. Microwaves, televisions, stereos,
baby equipment, and all sorts of other items of good value that are no longer
needed. At least they are getting rid of the stuff before it is cankered and
rotted.
If you just think about your own closet. How much of the
clothing that you own do you actually wear? How much "stuff" is
stored in the garage that you no longer use, that you probably will never use,
that your children will have to garage sale off, when you die? My kids are
going to kill us when they start going through stuff.
My wife has a tin collection, those pretty popcorn, candy
and everything else tins. They are great to look at, and we look at them
because they are stacked all over the house. But more importantly we store all
our unused treasures in them. If my wife wants some yarn she doesn't go to the
store to purchase it, she goes looking through tins to make her selection.
I think we all have things we don't need, so we shouldn't
be too hard on the rich that do the same thing we do, even though they do it in
a much larger fashion than we.
I might add, to this thought that our riches are
corrupting and rotting, just like the rich man's. I love electronic things
since I was in electronics for years. I have stored a large bunch of items that
we purchased and used, but when we stopped using them, I just put them away for
future use.
I have been shocked recently, in that the last two items
that I took out of storage to use, did not function. They had failed while
sitting idle in the garage. Soooo, the moral of the story, the rich man is
wrong for his actions, and is paying for it, but we also, tend to do the same
thing in a smaller manner.
12. The text dealt with the rich making money by cheating
the worker. We see this today on the corporate level. The several big
"book cooking" operations cheated employees out of millions. The car
manufacturers went to the unions and cooked up deals to cut benefits for people
that had already retired.
The airlines have dumped their retirement programs and
the Federal government is required to cover the losses because they were dumb
enough to guarantee them in the past. This is the corporations stealing from
all taxpayers, not just their own employees.
In the Old Testament there are many countries that are
listed as having a future judgment. Now, we don't know how a country can be
judged, but if a country can be, I suspicion that corporations will also be
judged.
It may be that the leaders of the countries/corporations
will be held accountable in the end, or whether this is a "here and
now" decline into insignificance we don't know. God will have His way with
those that counter his commands in the Word.
13. "Ye have condemned [and] killed the just; [and]
he doth not resist you." is a phrase that just screams for some
consideration. James speaks to the fact that some in the church had killed, or
caused the death of just men, but the men had not resisted the rich.
Two things. Christian's involved in unjust killing and
secondly the just being killed were not resisting the killers. Let's think
about those two items for a moment.
Christian's involved in unjust killing: We might think of
Saul and his persecution of the church, but we realize that he did this while
he was a non-believer. He thought he was doing "right" for Judaism,
but he was certainly condemning just men to death.
How could a believer be involved in this sort of action?
How could a believer involved in such actions be a part of the church? Why
wouldn't he be subject to church discipline? A number of questions that we need
to understand.
Being unjustly condemned to death and not resisting: Now,
if someone hauled me off to jail and was trying to put me to death, I think I
would be fighting with every tool I have to clear myself.
I have been corresponding with a prisoner in the south
that contacted me through our website. I have been taken with his complete
peace about his situation. He is not condemning people for incarcerating him
unjustly, he is simply doing the best he can in the situation he is in.
He has determined that he is going to play by the rules,
and take full advantage of all that is offered him. He has a fairly interesting
job, he lives in minimum security so has his own room with a little more than
bare minimum. He is taking extension Bible training and has planned that by the
time he comes up for parole that he will have his Doctorate in counseling. He
evidently knows his situation is just and deserved, but he is going to make the
most of the opportunity that God has afforded Him in this not so nice
situation.
Evidently he was an unjust man justly condemned. He has
not resisted those that wished him harm, probably due to his realization as a
believer that it was just.
Imagine now, if you will, being UNJUSTLY condemned. We
have Joseph in the Old Testament that is a good example of being unjustly
condemned, and we know his attitude was that God meant all of his younger life
for GOOD.
We have other examples in the book of Daniel. Daniel
himself was condemned for something that was right - prayer - some of his
enemies just hornswaggled the king into making prayer illegal. The trio in the
fires of the furnace as well. They didn't cry out concerning their unjust
treatment, they just endured what God had brought into their lives.
Now, let's apply this to our own day.
a. Our son is told he can't read his Bible at recess on
the playground. How do we react? Do we go to court if need be? How far do we go
to gain our rights?
b. Someone t-bones you in an intersection. It was fact
that you looked both ways and saw no oncoming traffic. The driver is known for
driving under the influence and multiple accidents due to the drugs.
Do you fight her lawsuit? Do you try to demean her in
court over her past driving history?
First off, her past driving history cannot be brought up
in trial - a little more unjustness to the mix. She sues you, so you have no
choice but to go to court and make a defense. The insurance company makes most
of the decisions for you so you are limited in what evolves in this situation.
c. The church wants to build a new building, but there
are city codes that seem to block your efforts. Do you go to court to force the
city to allow your building? Do you "prove" the bureaucrats wrong?
A church in our city was faced with such a situation.
They went to the neighbors on foot and talked to everyone they could contact
and there was no opposition. When they went into the permitting process with
the city, all sorts of opposition came to the front. The city had two options
available and rather than stand up to the sudden opposition which had no real
foundation, they opted to reject the permit for the church.
The church then jumped through a large number of city
hoops to try to gain a permit in another manner, and that attempt was squashed
as well. The church had adequate property to build their desired building on,
the new building covered up a rather simple looking educational wing and there
was no reason for them not to be allowed to build, other than the city council
rejecting their permit process.
This church opted to sue the city. They were faced with a
difficult decision. On the one hand they were treated unjustly because they
were a church. This was evident in the public discussions as well as in the
council meetings on the subject. They had every right to have the permit, and
there were no valid oppositions that were not met with complete answers by the
church. The church agreed to build a smaller building, the church jumped though
every hoop the city set before them, yet they were still rejected.
They could have walked away from it and found other
solutions, but they took a stand based on the principle that they were being
discriminated against because they were a church. Whether they were right or
wrong in the situation to sue needs to go back to Scripture and its dealing
with lawsuits - that is another study.
The actions of a believer, when unjustly treated, is a
hard one to determine, but we do have this passage as well as others. Maybe a
"NO RESISTANCE" policy would be the best.
We, in
One thing we should realize from this passage is that the
people had no real options to resist in a legal manner. They had little in the
way of rights if they had no money.
Let us see if we can set some principles to consider as
we go forward in
a. Use those avenues to which we are given in our legal
system. The real question here is do we have Biblical authority to enter into
lawsuits. The New Testament says we aren't to sue a brother, due to the fact
that we have church discipline to settle difficulties between believers. Some
take the phrase at the end of the Matthew church discipline passage to mean you
can take non-believers to court. "17 And if he shall neglect to hear them,
tell [it] unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be
unto thee as an heathen man and a publican."
Personally, I am not sure that is a correct
interpretation of the phrase. This seems to mean that you treat them as a
heathen and a publican due to his non Christian stance. To take it as if they
are to be considered non believers, you would need to witness to them, kick
them out of the church. This doesn't seem to fit the nature of the Word of God.
I Cor. 6:1 "Dare any of you, having a matter against
another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? 2 Do ye not
know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by
you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Know ye not that we shall
judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? 4 If then ye have
judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least
esteemed in the church. 5 I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a
wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his
brethren? 6 But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the
unbelievers. 7 Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go
to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather
[suffer yourselves to] be defrauded? 8 Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that [your]
brethren."
b. Consider whether you will be able to witness to that
lost person that you sue. What will your relationship be to them after the law
suit? Not a friendly one I would assume.
c. Is there some other way to settle the issue? Any
method but cutting off ties to the person should be preferable.
d. Is a law suit ever the answer for a believer? I am not
sure it is. If you, as a believer, are sued, then you need to give a good
defense, but if it is up to you to sue someone else, I am not sure you should
in light of what we've seen thus far. It probably would be within your rights
if the person is not a believer, but is it expedient? Is there anything in this
life worth going to law over if you can't share the gospel with the person at a
later date?
One further passage. There is a passage from the hand of
Peter which speaks well to this subject. I Pet.4.18-21 "18 Servants, [be]
subject to [your] masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but
also to the froward. 19 For this [is] thankworthy, if a man for conscience
toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what glory [is it], if,
when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when
ye do well, and suffer [for it], ye take it patiently, this [is] acceptable
with God. 21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for
us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:"
When we do right and suffer for it patiently, we will be
following the Lord's example. It would seem that this is the life that we are
called to rather than the life of one standing up for our rights.
As you sit patiently, remember to consider the other person's problems before God. Consider the person's need of salvation. Consider how you might be used in both areas.