Faith and Money.

An Exposition on the Book of James Part 3.

If you haven’t yet, please check out part 1 of this series, The ideas of James are all centered around the idea of a perfectly forged faith that makes us perfect.

There is hardly a day that goes by that my phone doesn’t ring with someone from another country wanting to scam me out of money. I almost always get hung up on. Yes, I get hung up on because I start talking about Jesus. I tell them their need for a savior and they can’t wait to get off the phone with me. in todays world there are a lot of scams. Unfortunately, those scams aren’t always just related to getting someone prepaid gift cards and giving people access to bank accounts. There are many people who manipulate the Word of God for money, acclaim and even power. For thousands of years people have been manipulating people by using one word, faith.

The Roman Catholic church has used faith to tell people they can buy their way out of sins. The Charismatic moment tells people that they can buy healing. Evan Baptist Churches have misused faith to grow a business, gain bucks and build big buildings. Have you ever heard this – Give until it hurts? or how about give until it scares you and then give some more. This is not in the word of God. I am all for giving to knobble causes and seeing people fed that otherwise would not be. I am for supporting local men who are trying to seek Gods kingdom and his righteousness. I am for helping the needy. But I am not for manipulating people and claiming that it is God’s will for me to give in fear or give until I am hurting financially. If I am giving and am scared to give, that is the opposite of faith. If I give and am hurting myself because of that gift than that is being irresponsible and an unfaithful steward. I am not saying that a person cannot give while being in want, but I hear people promoting giving instead of paying bills. This is ungodly. If I have a bill to pay, I am bound by my word to pay that bill. Obedience is better than sacrifice. Yes, I can give my food that I have to someone in need with an understanding that God will meet my needs. I am not saying that you have to be wealthy to give. I am also saying that If you do not have a hundred dollars in the bank, don’t write a check to the church for a thousand. It is unbiblical and I don’t care how much anecdotal evidence you have; it is unscriptural.

However, in the book of James it is less about money and more about true faith. James said to “Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:” That low degree is referring to monetary status, and an attitude of humility. Remember that God resists the proud and giveth grace unto the humble. I have known a lot of Proud homeless people. They refuse to be humbled even though they are eating out of trashcans. They will probably never be exalted until they realize their low degree. But when we are exalted that does not mean that they become exalted by becoming wealthy. It is an exalted level of faith. They understand how much they need God and therefore rely on him for everything. Faith is more important than money or status. God is less concerned about your finances than with your faith. I do want to add here, this is not a lesson on giving or on tithing or on stewardship. We can make application of what James is talking about in other areas, but this is about how God exalts the lowly and lowers the exalted.

What James is not saying here is that if you give in faith you will reap a bountiful harvest of wealth. Don’t let the prosperity teachers fool you on this. Yes, God does want us to give with an open hand to those in need. He does say that he rewards giving that is in faith. But, God does not say to give to scams and expect to get healing or money in return. He wants us to give believing that God will provide our base needs. James comes back to this thought later in the next chapter as to giving to others in need. What I want to point out is that if we are in the class of men that are considered low degree. Not having great riches but having humility, God will exalt us in our faith. We understand more fully that God is our provider and not we ourself. If you fall into this category it is important that you recognize God for his goodness.

James then tells the rich man that he should rejoice in being made low. This again does not imply that God will take away his riches. It is dealing with a mindset of humility understanding that God is the source of his financial blessing. It could be that God will allow his riches to vanish before his eyes as he did allow this trial to happen to job, but it is not always the case. God is interested in the heart of the person. He does not want man trusting in himself or in his possessions. He wants his child trusting in him alone.

James talks about how money or riches perishes as grass or even as the flower. James is not saying that riches are inherently evil, and we must take a vowel of poverty to be Christlike. Not he is dealing with faith. If you are putting your faith in riches they will fail you. In-fact, if you are putting your faith in anything other than Jesus Christ, it will fail you. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit. Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.” proverbs 18:10-12

These verse are less about money and status than they are about humility. Humility requires a faith in something other than self. It is saying that you don’t have all the answers, you don’t have all the finances, or the strength. The proud heart is haughty and a haughty heart has faith in its own abilities. God doesn’t want us to have faith in ourself, but faith in him. As the old hymn says, “the arm of flesh shall fail you, ye dare not trust your own.”

This can be related to a lot of other areas where we are drawn away from having faith in Jesus to having faith in a device of the world. Several years ago, I was convicted about health insurance. I knew that they used my money for ungodly things. They use my premiums to abort babies and preform (or attempt to) sex changing operations. They also use witchcraft to make wonder pills and vaccines all of which I am against. I talked to my wife and we made a decision to not take health insurance with my company. There are “Christian alternatives” to health insurance, but we don’t use these either. I am not really trying to tell everyone to dump their coverage and trust God to keep you healthy. I Decided to take a stand for what I thought was right according to the Bible. I also didn’t like how dependent people get on insurance. We decided to follow God in faith. It is not that we have not had to go to the Dr. or that God would help nothing bad to happen – while I do think he can and does that. We are just trusting God to give us wisdom in when to seek medical help and we are taking our health and putting it in God’s hands while we recognize that we are the stewards of our bodies.

I know some might be terrified of a choice that you need to make but it is so freeing to walk in faith.

James 1:9-11 KJV

Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:

But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.

For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

S.T. 
Acts 20:24 
"But none of these things move me..."