The Laborer is Worthy of His Wages

James 5:4-5 "Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter."

One of the most sensitive subjects in Christianity and one of the most convicting for us as American Christians, is the subject of money. That is because money is so tied into the fabric of our culture. We are a capitalist nation. Working heard to earn money and spend it on what we choose is the basis of a consumer driven market and in large part has contributed to us living in one of the most prosperous societies in history. However...Can living in such a prosperous society actually be a curse? Often we think that materiel prosperity translates into God's blessings. But when a nation is very prosperous it can be the opposite. People begin more and more to love money and commit the sin of idolatry with that wretched god, mammon.

The text I quoted above from James is written to those who are wealthy. Maybes some of you reading this think, that doesn't  apply to me, I am poor. Maybe relative to the top 5% of wealthy Americans you are. But compared to 75% of the human population, you are rich. That is because 75% of the human population lives in abject poverty (They do not have a house, bathroom, clothing, food, medical service etc.) We have it pretty good.  In the text quoted we also have a scenario where the wealthy are withholding pay to those who labor in the fields. This can be understood in a literal sense, but I have always thought of this in regards to those who labor in the gospel. Why? Because the bible uses this metaphor in relationship to gospel ministry. Matt. 9:37 "Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” And in 1 Cor. 9:10 "It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop." Those laborers are clearly those engaged in the gospel ministry gathering God's elect. What I see here is a rebuke by James to those wealthy Christians holding back on supporting those who served in the ministry, and I also believe this rebuke carries over today. I think of pastors in foreign countries who live in shacks and huts barely able to feed their families. I also think of pastors in the United States. With the exception of the few pastors who have large ministries that have a lot of money, most pastors receive an income way below the standard salary of a professional according to today's standards, and most pastors are unable to support their families forcing their wives to work to supplement the income. Sadly the rights of a minister are not highly regarded by many church goers in our country. And is a sad commentary of western Christianity. 


This is why James gives such a strong warning, it is a warning of those who live luxuriously at the expense of shortchanging those who labor in the gospel. This is where prosperity can be a curse. Ironically,  it is a lot easier to be generous when we have little, but when we have a lot it is more difficult. People become dependent and feel secure with their wealth and are afraid to depart with their money. James likens such people to cattle which are fattened to be slaughtered, giving a vivid depiction of divine judgment on such indulgent attitudes. This was the case with Sodom and Gomorrah. While we often think God judged them because of their sexual immorality, it was not the only reason. In fact it was just a symptom of a greater problem. The problem of overindulgence due to prosperity. We read in Ezekiel 16:49-51 "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it"

I wonder sometime if our prosperity in America is not so much God's blessing, but God's curse. Maybe he is  fattening us up for the slaughter. Well I am not a prophet nor a son of a prophet, but one thing I am is a person who can perceive. And I perceive as a society we have become very self indulgent and very greedy. May God have mercy on us. I am especially grieved when recent surveys indicate giving has gone down significantly in churches and the average person gives less than 5% of their income to their local church. Even recently due to shortages in the SBC, many missionaries have a cut in funding this year. How can such a thing happen in a nation where we have so much abundance? This is truly sad and truly sinful. God will hold us accountable on Judgment Day for how responsible we were with his money and if we we haven't been generous towards his Kingdom. It will do us all good to pay attention to the teaching of the Lord on this matter:

And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”  Luke 12: 15-21