Ty Barho

James 5:1-11

Context

  • James was the brother of Jesus
  • A “pillar” of the early church (along with John & Peter)
  • Speaking to Jewish Christians (from Jerusalem, most likely)
  • People with “respectable” sin

Disclaimers

This passage talks about wealth. It’s a blistering warning to what James calls the rich. It’s probably going to be easy to say or think “James isn’t talking to me.” I would encourage you to put your heart into really trying to hear what the scripture has to say.

Second, possibly the worst thing we can do in this conversation is to turn this into a Pharisaic debate over how rich is too rich. If we go to that place, we are focusing on rule-following and judging others, instead of what is flowing out of our hearts and into our lives, and more importantly, the lives of others.

The last obstacle to avoid in this discussion is letting it spiral into a debate over politics, social welfare, class warfare, upcoming elections, especially in today’s political climate. There is a place for healthy conversations about those topics, but we need to avoid it in this setting, and focus on what Christ, through James’ scripture, is trying to speak to our hearts. We need to try to listen to God’s voice in today’s study.

[Tell about landing in Sri Lanka]

Being “Rich”

So with respect to money, what do you think it means to be rich? No verse yet... Strong wording. Who do you think James means by “you rich people”? Why should they weep and wail? What miseries are coming on them? How do we know this from what James has written here? What is “the thing” they have done? What does “the last days” mean?

I recently read a great quote in Teaching to Change Lives, by Dr. Howard Hendricks:

_“My wife, Jeanne, and I once dined with a rich man from a blue blood Boston family, and I asked him ‘How in the world did you grow up in the midst of such wealth and not be consumed by materialism?’

His answer: ‘My parents taught us that everything in our home was either an idol or a tool.’”_

I’m gonna ask a hard question, then we’re gonna dig deeper into it: If we look at our lives today, are they MORE focused on paying the bills, saving enough for retirement, and leaving a legacy for our kids and grandkids, or MORE focused on helping the suffering, children, orphans, etc?

I’ve mentioned the toxicity of the American Dream before. I think a lot of people, myself included, can easily fall prey to the self-talk phrase “I wouldn’t consider myself rich.” To me, this phrase is both a symptom and source of the toxicity of the American Dream that I’m talking about, and what it has done to us, especially as Christians, through generations of pursuit.

Here’s why it’s toxic: it puts us to sleep. We all see people with waaaay more than we have, and therefore we consider our lives humble, so we feel ok about our spirituality. We get content with wake up, get the kids ready, go to school, go to church, rinse, repeat. And this has been the product generations in the making.

But here’s the deal: it’s not really sleep at all. It can become an obsessive, unfulfilling constant state of worry. It’s been talked about at some length in psychological circles that there are generally two types of mindsets: Scarcity & Plenty.

Scarcity Mindset

A scarcity mindset is when you constantly worry that there won’t be enough (time, money, food, you name it). Psychologists like Eldar Schafer who co-wrote the book “Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much” believe this mindset is literally eating away at our mental capacity. The logic goes:

  • Humans have limited cognitive capacity
  • Scarcity mindset leads to tunneling (or obsessing)
  • Tunneling cannibalizes cognitive capacity that could be directed elsewhere

Example: I didn’t notice (or put much effort) into the troubled family on my street, because I was too worried about losing my job.

“Scarcity captures the mind… when we experience scarcity of any kind, we become absorbed by it. The mind orients automatically, powerfully towards unfulfilled needs. Scarcity is more than just the displeasure of having very little. It changes how we think. It imposes itself on our minds.” - Eldar Shafer

Further, a scarcity mindset doesn’t end when scarcity doesn’t actually exist. More typically, the concept of scarcity (or fear of not having enough) grows to fit your current state. It can be a really taxing, difficult cycle for people (even people of immense wealth) to break.

Plenty Mindset

Conversely, a plenty, or abundant, mindset, in psychology, believes there is plenty out there for everyone. In Christianity, more specifically, it means being comfortable trusting God in His provision. That trust, if it’s real, gives us freedom from the tunneling & obsession a scarcity mindset creates, allowing us to see other’s needs, and God’s opportunities for His glory, and our sanctification, more clearly in front of us, because our cognitive capacity isn’t being drained by worry.

No verse yet... Which type of mindset do you feel you practice more naturally? Which mindset do you feel would be more inclined to “store up treasure in the last days?” When you look at the aim of the American Dream: job success, home ownership, retirement planning, a financial legacy for our children… do those goals sound more centered around Scarcity or Plenty? No verse yet... What picture does verse 4 paint of the people James is warning? James is obviously tearing these people apart for oppressing poor workers in greed. As we go about our lives at work, how can we ensure that we’re not doing that? Any examples or stories? What do you think James means in verse 6? Who are the righteous? No verse yet... What is the therefore there for? How is James relating the idea of being patient until the Lord’s coming back to his strongly worded warning to the rich and self-indulgent? How do you think patience relates to a Scarcity mindset? How about a Plenty mindset?