Live Free with Josh Howerton - Our Hearts Are with Our Treasures | Ep. 343 | Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Episode Date: May 29, 2024

The church of Jesus is where people from every background come together and can be one. A danger of diversity is seeing people with more or less than us and letting that become an area of pride or jealousy. No matter what financial resources God has given us, they all belong to Him. How are you viewing and using God’s resources today? For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, good morning, everybody, or maybe it's good night for you. And I always feel a little like Jim Carrey and the Truman Show who walks out on his front porch every morning and says, good morning,

and in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night. So wherever you are listening and whenever you're listening, thanks for joining us on the Daily Drive. My name is Bro, by the way, and we are walking verse by verse to the book of James, and we are all the way to the final chapter today. And James warns and kind of rails against the airs, arrogance of wealth in this chapter. You know, one of the things I love about our church, and every church I get to be a part of,

is the diversity. We have people from all kinds of backgrounds and nationalities, people from all kinds of walks of life who have come together in unity as the family of God. I mean, we got the blue-collar crowd, we get the white-collar crowd. We get the country club crowd and the country music crowd. We got the Sachs Fifth Avenue crowd and the Goodwill over on Fifth Avenue crowd. We got it all. And it is thrilling to see.

You know, the early church of Jesus was, and from my vantage point, still is, one of these few places on the planet where people at any spot on the economic continuum can all come together. And this has been true for 2,000 years. But there are dangers associated with that, and the dangers are, for the less affluent, when you get around people with more, you can become resentful or jealous. Or you could fall for the myth that if just had a little bit more like them, then you would be more happy.

If I could just get that kind of house, if I could just land that. kind of job if I could just drive that kind of car or wear those kind of clothes. Then, then I'd be happy. So we keep reaching for more, more cash, more power, more square footage, more comfort. King Solomon was one of the richest people the world was ever known. And he writes in his journal Ecclesiastes, whoever loves money never has enough. Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. You see, it's just a myth that having more will make you more satisfied or more happy. I mean, just look around at the extremely wealthy and see if they're really more satisfied

in their life, in their marriages, and in their families. In fact, just like there are dangers in wanting more, there are dangers that come along with having more. I mean, think about it. Affluence has destroyed far more souls than poverty ever has. This is why Jesus warned

his followers over and over again about the deceitfulness of wealth and the seductive side of money. Now, I want to be very clear, the Bible is not anti-more. The Bible is not anti-accumulation or anti-success. There is nowhere in James or the rest of the Bible that says it's wrong to be affluent or a sin to have more. The guys like Abraham, David, Solomon, were all very wealthy individuals and God really used them to advance his purposes. And I know a bunch of

extremely wealthy people whose hearts have been totally captured by God and their generosity will just blow you away because they know that God owns it all. And they just want to do a good job with what God has given them. So the Bible is not anti-more, but with more comes more responsibility. And with more comes a number of potential spiritual dangers. And so James doesn't hold back. By the way, you might not consider yourself rich, but if you live in America and make $10,000 a year, you're wealthier than 84% of the rest of the world. So we all might be considered rich. So instead of thinking about those rich people that James is talking to, maybe we ought to say, Speak to me, God.

Warn me, God, teach me God, show me God. This isn't an easy one to read, and I'm not going to make much commentary, but let's just read it. And let's let God's word sink into our heart. So here goes, verses 1 through 6. James says this, Look here, you rich people. We've been grown with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away.

Your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you are counting on will eat away at your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment. For listen, hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven's armies. You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.

you have condemned and killed innocent people who do not resist you. Wow. Once again, this goes to the heart, as Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your heart is also. So in your heart, you ask yourself, who do I really trust? In what do I trust? Is there anyone on neglect? Anyone I ignore? Who do you take advantage of? Who do you oppress? Who do you look down on? James has spent a good deal of his writing, talking about you and me having a deep dependence upon God and walking in humility and now reveals that there are certain ungodly rich people who do neither one of those things.

So I just thought we just let this passage work on our hearts today. And spur us to gratitude, generosity, compassion, and kindness, let's not always be wishing for more. And those of us who already have more than enough, let's look for ways to give it away to the glory of God. I'll see you back tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m.

Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.com. Church slash daily drive.