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James 5:1-6
5:1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 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. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
If you would, open your bibles to James 5, our text tonight. We, we're in the last chapter of James, and I'm gonna read the first six verses. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire.
Joel Brooks:You have laid up treasure in the last days. 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. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
Joel Brooks:You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. This is the word of the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:It's kind of fitting. Right? There's some weeping. There's some howling. Let's go to the lord in prayer.
Jeffrey Heine:God, we are desperate to hear from you. We ask that through your spirit and by your grace that you would speak to us, that you would teach us, that you would instruct our hearts, you would confront us with your grace, and you would also call us to obedience. And Lord, I pray that you would be glorified in this time. Lord, I pray that you are honored just in the reading of your word. That alone can change us.
Jeffrey Heine:And so we ask that spirit now you would meet us. You'd open our eyes and open our ears to your truth. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen. So, I was reminded with with Dwight, when I was about 17 I started playing music in different venues and, and one of the venues was a bar and I was 17.
Jeffrey Heine:I just didn't tell anyone. And so, but I had I had this friend. He was older than me and he kind of got me in and to play and, he gave me a couple of tips. He said, First off, don't ever tell anyone that you're sick. Don't don't start off by saying like, Oh, before I play my first song, I just want everybody to know that I'm not feeling too well tonight.
Jeffrey Heine:Because I don't start off with an excuse. It's not gonna go well. And also don't don't say like my, you know, my my strings are kind of rusty. They're pretty old. I haven't changed my strings in a while.
Jeffrey Heine:Just, so bear with me. So don't don't start with an excuse. And if I had one for preaching, it would also be don't start by saying talking about this is going to be difficult. Talking about this is going to be difficult. That that that's how things are going to be tonight.
Jeffrey Heine:It's a hard passage. It's a it's a hard subject. Talking about money, talking about finances is difficult, And one of the main reasons that it's difficult, is because it's so personal. It's not distant. It's not theory.
Jeffrey Heine:Many of you this week have had to face some kind of serious financial concern, Some kind of question that came up. And most of you signed into some account, or you opened up some some invoice or some letter that told you something about money and you were worried about what was going to be inside of that envelope or on the other side of, you know, the author's name or the best book that you ever read or you know, whatever your security question is. You you are worried about what's on the other side of this. And it's really personal. And James cuts right to it.
Jeffrey Heine:And there there's one thing that I'd like for us to think about as we begin. One of my professors, Doctor. Franklin Robinson, when I was studying philosophy at Murray State, he said before we get into an exchange, a dialogue, we really need to make sure that our terms are right because there's nothing more futile than having an argument you don't know what you're arguing about. And so when we're going to talk about something so sensitive and so personal as money, then I think that there are a couple of things that we need to be clear on. And one of those, is that a few months back in the spring, I wrote a little essay for our covenant members here at Redeemer.
Jeffrey Heine:And that that little, that brief essay was about money. And it really broke money into 3 different aspects that we talked about. Our spending, our saving, and our giving. And along with that and and something throughout that essay, a presupposition in that essay and really a presupposition as we look at tonight's text in James 5, It's a presupposition that we really need to, think about, clarify, identify together, and that is this. Your money is not your own.
Jeffrey Heine:Your money is not your own. And I know that that can be a pretty hard presupposition to sign off on. That can be a hard thing because I know that, I mean, you all, whether it's, in a construction site or in a class room or in a boardroom or an operating room, you have worked hard for your money. And so you say, I did this. I worked really hard, and then they gave me money, and so it's mine.
Jeffrey Heine:It was my work, and so it's my money. And and I definitely don't want to dissuade you from the very biblical and therefore vital and critical principle that Christians are to be hardworking people. That we should be some of the hardest working people out there. That we would have integrity and and we would work hard. That that's vital, and I don't want to dismiss that in the slightest, but we do have to recognize that that gift of work, which really after the last 5 years in America, we realize what a gift work is, and so we need to see that as a gift, but an extension of that gift of work is the gift of resources.
Jeffrey Heine:You've been given gifts of talents and skill, and as you put those into practice in work and you have gained money, that's a gift, and it's a gift from god. And coming off of what Joel said last week about god's sovereignty. When our being and our doing is a direct result of God's sovereignty, so are our finances. Paul says in 1st Corinthians 6 19 that you are not your own, for you were bought with a price. He's saying that you are not your own, and what follows is neither is your money.
Jeffrey Heine:Neither is your time. Neither is your job. Neither is your family. Neither are your possessions. All of these things fall under god's sovereignty.
Jeffrey Heine:You are not your own. And your money is not your own either. And we need to know this. We need to see this as we move into really a very difficult passage in James 5. James issues a severe warning to the rich.
Jeffrey Heine:It's bold and relentless in its warning. He calls the rich to listen and to pay attention. He is issuing an indictment against them. Misery is coming. Look at verse 1, Come now you rich, weep and how for the miseries that are coming upon you.
Jeffrey Heine:Who is James talking to? With such a stern warning, it's important to follow who it is that he's calling out. Who is the audience here? And as Joel has noted, at different points in this letter, James is very different than Paul. It's not the same kind of language.
Jeffrey Heine:It's not the same kind of pace. In fact, it at times it's more like a prophet's writing. It's more like Isaiah or Jeremiah. Isaiah who said, he said this in, in chapter 3 of Isaiah, Instead of perfume there will be rottenness. Instead of a belt, a rope, and instead of a well set hair, baldness.
Jeffrey Heine:And instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth. Jeremiah who said, Hear, o woman, the word of the Lord. Let your ear receive the word from his mouth. Teach your daughters a lament, and each to her neighbor a dirge. Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom.
Jeffrey Heine:Let not the mighty man boast in his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches. James takes on this voice, the voice of a prophet. So who's he talking to? The primary audience that James is addressing here with this warning and this indictment was probably not the first reader, the Christians.
Jeffrey Heine:James is addressing the wealthy oppressors of the readers. This word against the rich would have been comforting to them Or the the to the primary audience. When this word came to them and they said, what about these people that are oppressing us? What about the people that are abusing us and taking advantage of us? What about the Christian who is trying to do the right thing and they're getting ripped off?
Jeffrey Heine:What about us? And he says, Oh, I have a word for the rich. And he addresses the wealthy. But here's the thing, he says it in the earshot of the Christian. So the first reader, although not the direct audience, they are the first readers and they hear this, and we hear it today.
Jeffrey Heine:You see, that's one of the many layers that happens when it comes to the audience of scripture, That God intends it for his people throughout the ages. And so as we come to the text, we actually hear what God has to say about wealth. We come to it today, 2000 years later, and although we are not the direct first audience, we learn what god has to say about money. And how we, as his people, those who have been called into his righteousness, how we are to regard money ourselves. James issues an indictment, and he extends it to everyone, even to us tonight.
Jeffrey Heine:Verse 1, come now, you rich. Weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and your silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasures in the last days.
Jeffrey Heine:Riches and garments, gold and silver. So what's wrong with these things? What's wrong with gold? What's wrong with silver? What's wrong with garments?
Jeffrey Heine:What's wrong with clothes? Why are miseries coming upon the rich? Is it because possessions are bad? Is that it? Is it because having these things, it's a bad thing?
Jeffrey Heine:It's a sin to have these things? When the people of Israel were were leaving Egypt in Exodus 12, god directs them to receive from the Egyptians gold and silver and treasure, to to take possessions. So when he instructed them to do that, was he instructing them to take on sinful possessions? Well some people would say yes. Some people would say, yeah.
Jeffrey Heine:It's wrong to have those nice things. Some people might be you. Maybe not all the time, but when you see that person drive up in their whatever car wearing their whatever clothes with their whatever bag and you say, That's wrong. It's wrong to have those things. And are you right?
Jeffrey Heine:Are you right? Is it wrong to have those kinds of possessions? I mean, that that's why this is so difficult and why it's such a hard text to get into, because it really kind of cuts in right to the heart of it. Some will say, yes, it's the possessions, but when we do that, if we follow that to its logical end, then that would mean that when we have fewer and fewer possessions that we become more and more righteous. That's the flip of the prosperity gospel.
Jeffrey Heine:That's a poverty gospel, and that's just as poisonous and wrong as a prosperity gospel. That somehow when we are devoid of these riches, that somehow we are more and more acceptable to God. It just doesn't work that way. So if that's not it, then what is it? Why the miseries?
Jeffrey Heine:James continues his indictment. Verse 4, 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. You see, this clarifies the problem. The rich have made their money by abusing, by oppressing the workers.
Jeffrey Heine:They committed fraud and have abused the harvesters. And this is very critical in understanding this passage. This is the first cause of the miseries and the clear judgment of God when it comes to wealth. And so it comes to us. To clarify and to put it into our context, it is this.
Jeffrey Heine:If you make money by deceiving others, if you make money by oppressing others, it is sinful and wrong and the Lord condemns it. If you make your wealth on the backs of others by abusing them, by fraud, dishonest means, then the issue comes down. The judgment comes down and says misery is coming to you. This is a stern warning. And not just to the 1%, it's a stern warning to anyone with change in their pocket.
Jeffrey Heine:If it's through dishonest means, it's wrong. James is defining for us unrighteous ways to make money, And he says that followers of God cannot make money by abusing and oppressing others. And those who do, miseries are coming. And why? Because God knows.
Jeffrey Heine:The cries of the poor and the oppressed, those cries have reached the ear of god himself, and he hears them and he is coming to the defense of the oppressed. He's coming to their defense, and the wealthy will howl with sorrow. And so to us, that means that how we make our money matters. Quite simply, how we make our money matters. It's a matter of faith.
Jeffrey Heine:It's a matter of trust and obedience. How we make our money matters. No matter if you're a CEO, or you're making minimum wage, and anything in between, how we make our money matters. Consider it for yourselves. Do you stand to gain money in your work by oppressing and abusing others?
Jeffrey Heine:Do you stand to gain from being cruel and dishonest and unjust? And that's not just sweatshops. This happens all over the place. How many times have you heard someone, maybe even a non Christian, complain about the ethical behavior of a Christian business person? You've heard it.
Jeffrey Heine:You might have said it. I have. I did graphic design for a number of years, freelance graphic design. And then for a little bit of time an in house graphic designer. You know who we never wanted to do business with?
Jeffrey Heine:Churches. There's a reason for that. You don't get paid. If you do, it's after like 13 emails. Phone calls, fish wrapped in a paper and delivered.
Jeffrey Heine:That's the kind of thing it takes, and there's a reason for that kind of indictment against the Christian business person. You can't make money like that. Even the unethical, secular, non Christian, atheist, whatever, however they might be, anti whatever you or we are, however they might be, they still say, That's wrong. Like, you don't do business like that. That's not okay.
Jeffrey Heine:And James is saying, if you make money like that, god opposes you. It matters how we make our money. James continues his indictment in verse 5. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
Jeffrey Heine:James is calling out the wealthy oppressors First, on how they made their money, and then secondly, why they have made their wealth. How they made their money and then why they made their money. They made their money for luxury and self indulgence. The unrighteous rich that James is calling out here have gained wealth, wealth upon wealth, by abusing others, by oppressing them. And then the reason that they did it is to live in luxury, to live in self indulgence.
Jeffrey Heine:Now when you look at our culture 2000 years later from this scene, you have to admit that this is the materialistic goal. This is the goal: to live in luxury and self indulgence. That's what we're sold at every corner. What's the nicest car called? A luxury car.
Jeffrey Heine:One of the loudest promises of our culture is extravagance, and Christians have ears to hear that promise. It's not mute to us. We hear it. We hear it day in and day out, and you might even hear it from your boss, and you might even tell it to your employ your employees. You might you might say these things, that we need to be crafty, and we need to get these things, and we need to move forward, and if we're gonna advance.
Jeffrey Heine:And that's that's part of the lie that's out there, and it's hard to resist it because it is so prevalent. Fattening our hearts in the day of slaughter. That verse reminds me of, you know, the old brother's grim children's story of, of Hansel and Gretel where, you know parents who apparently can't don't want to or can't take care of their children anymore, get them lost in the woods, and then there's a witch involved. And the witch, takes them, and she takes them in. And and, Hansel, he gets he gets locked in a cage, but he gets to eat a lot.
Jeffrey Heine:He gets a lot of food. Now why is the witch giving him so much food? Because she's going to eat him. See, children's stories are terrifying. It's way worse than video games.
Jeffrey Heine:All right, so they they're saying that he's in the cage and and she's fattening him up because she's going to eat him. And that's how we in our society as we as we eat, and we self indulge, and we and we get bigger and bigger and bigger with all, like taking in our luxuries and all this. What we're doing, James is saying, is you're taking all of these things in, and you're saving up, and you're fattening your hearts for a day of slaughter. That's what it's for. You think you're gaining?
Jeffrey Heine:You think you're winning in these different areas? You're setting yourself up for a very big fall. How we make money matters and why we make money matters. James is saying that your self indulgence and your extravagance, you've only fattened your hearts for a day of slaughter, which means that judgment is coming. They weren't just making money to pay the bills for provision to provide for their families.
Jeffrey Heine:They were making money. They were oppressing others to gain wealth upon wealth for luxury and selfish indulgence. Do we make our money for luxury? Do we make our money for selfish indulgence, for extravagance, or do we make our money to testify to the goodness and greatness of God? Look again at verses 2 and 3.
Jeffrey Heine:Your riches have rotted, and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and your silver have corroded and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasures in the last days. If you have your Bibles, turn to Matthew 6. Matthew 6 verse 19.
Jeffrey Heine:You might have recognized some of the language here in James 5. James 5 sounds a lot like what Jesus is saying on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6 verse 19. Jesus says this, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus is saying in a very similar way, and it's obvious that this is in James' mind as he's writing these things. And actually throughout James, and and Joel has hit on this a couple of times, throughout James you can see the Sermon on the Mount coming in and out of focus. As James has this sermon, this message of Jesus on his heart and his mind, and as the Spirit is moving him to write these things, you can see these connecting points. And James is saying that the possessions, the possessions of the rich, they they are as evidence against the rich. Indeed, the possessions testify to their guilt, and it testifies the the possessions speak out and testify 2 things I'd like for us to look at.
Jeffrey Heine:1st, they testify to what they treasure. Gold, silver, garments. It testifies to what their treasure is. And the second thing, the possessions testify to the impermanence of their treasure. This transient treasure, this, this fleeting treasure, because they are rotted riches, garments are moth eaten, the gold and the silver corroded.
Jeffrey Heine:These treasures fade, and James has already talked about this in James chapter 1 where he says, let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass, its flower falls and its beauty perishes, so also will the rich man fade away into the midst of his pursuits. These things are fleeting. And so these possessions, these these possessions of the rich, they testify. They speak out, and they cry out in 2 ways.
Jeffrey Heine:1st, they say what it is that these people have treasured, what they have set their hearts on, because where your treasure is, your heart will be also. And so he's saying that's where your heart is. Your heart is with these moth eaten garments, with this gold that's corroded. The silver, which the corroded gold is is fools gold. It's gold that's not pure.
Jeffrey Heine:It's it's fake wealth. It's just show. How many times have you seen that show wealth? I think it's easily identified in the the the fake purse market. You see it on the streets in New York and Chicago.
Jeffrey Heine:I remember one time as a kid we were driving to, to Gulf Shores on vacation. We had to pull over for some van that sold some kind of purse that wasn't real. Happy vacation. Yeah. So the these kinds of fake wealth that we just wanna show, we just want people to think that we're wealthy.
Jeffrey Heine:We're not even going to be wealthy, we just want to fake it. And so it's testifying to us, and it's testifying to the people around us. The possessions testify to what our treasure is, and it also testifies to how impermanent these things are, how these things will leave us. This is crucial. What we do with our money testifies to what we treasure and how we spend and how we save and how we give.
Jeffrey Heine:So I have a tough question for you. I've gotten to sit with James for the last week, and he's been asking very tough questions of me. I don't really like him anymore, but he but he's gonna invade it, and he's asking these tough questions. And so now I I have a a question for you. What would the people closest to you, your friends, your family, your coworkers, your neighbors, when they look at how you make money, and when they look at what you do with money, how you spend, how you save, how you give, whether they're Christians or not, what would they say that you treasure?
Jeffrey Heine:Would they distinguish what you treasure as god above all else? Would they see that you trust Jesus and what he has said? That you believe what he has said about himself, who he is? Would they say that you believe that Jesus is coming back? Would they say that?
Jeffrey Heine:Now last year, back, May 21st when when the world was going to end, May 21st last year, May 20th, the whole world had a heyday making fun of all the people that thought that the world was going to end the next day. I even made some jokes and they were pretty good. But there were people that they were giving their money away, they were they were selling things, they were selling their possessions, they were selling their homes. At least they lived like they believed something was going to happen. At least the people around them knew that they believed that something was going to happen.
Jeffrey Heine:What would the people closest to you say? Ones that know you, not not just like the the distant, like, maybe they could kind of guess a certain no. The people that know you well, that know what you're about, know what you believe, know where your hope for salvation lies, the people that that know you. What would those testimonies say to them? See, this is why it's so hard to talk about money.
Jeffrey Heine:It's so intimate because our money testifies to what is really important to us, what's really in our heart. And I know some of you might feel this incredible tension right now of asking, do I live luxuriously? We we kind of passed over. There are a number of things that I passed over quite quickly, and and some of you might might have stopped at one of those points, and and it's just heavy. Because it is.
Jeffrey Heine:And that means you're listening, which I which I like. But it's very difficult to navigate. And you'll do your best to answer. On one hand, yes, I live luxuriously. 3,000,000,000 people, about half the people in the world, live on less than 2 and a half dollars a day.
Jeffrey Heine:Yes, I live luxuriously, but if I look in other directions and other statistics, the happy statistics. I look at those. I'm like, oh no, I don't live luxuriously at all. Of course not. We kind of get stuck in between the 2, between all the statistics for one answer or the other.
Jeffrey Heine:But as Joel mentioned last week, and has mentioned on a number of occasions, we don't judge these things horizontally. We don't judge luxury horizontally. We judge vertically. That's a very important distinction. And just like last week, it's a, it's another direct connection to last week.
Jeffrey Heine:Or do we live under the banner of, if the Lord wills? When it comes to our finances, is every dollar connected to the will of the lord? Do we do that? It it's really hard work, and sometimes it seems really mundane. I have to pay the power bill.
Jeffrey Heine:But is it tied to the will of god? We need to go to god regularly in prayer about our money, because how we make money matters, and why we make money matters, and what we do with our money matters. And so we need to go to go to God. We need to go to him in prayer and ask his will. But we have to keep in goal, keep in mind that the goal the goal is not luxurylessness.
Jeffrey Heine:And the goal isn't just having great abilities to discern between luxury and and necessity. The goal isn't just discerning all of those things. The goal is this. The ultimate goal is treasuring god above everything. All of this.
Jeffrey Heine:And so when those friends and the family, when when they see how our possessions, and the way that we make money, and the way that we spend money, and the way that we save money, and the way that we give money, that when they see all of those things that they would see first and foremost not stuff, but they would see that we treasure god above everything. That that would be the supreme testimony. Not, oh they bought this or they went without that. Lots of people go without stuff, And it's not just this free pass to get whatever we want because lots of people have whatever they want. At some point that fades into the background.
Jeffrey Heine:This these possessions, making a lot, not making a lot, having this, not having that, holding it with an open hand. One of the most striking times I've ever seen that play out was I was filming a video testimony for a baptism of this man who makes an incredible amount of money And we had to interrupt, because he got a phone call, a business call, and he had to go take it. He came back in, And he had been arguing with this person that they were saying that they weren't gonna pay him for this for this job that he did. And so one of the guys asked, well, how much how how consequential is this? Like, how how much are you supposed to be getting paid?
Jeffrey Heine:And he said, $16,000,000. And he said, he can pay me. He cannot pay me. I don't care. Now you could take that and you could run with it, and you could say that we're just supposed to have this I don't care mentality to money, but I've also seen that same man make more than that and do tremendous things testifying to the goodness and greatness of god.
Jeffrey Heine:But he never would have done those things if he was afraid of money. If he was afraid of money and thought that, oh, I can't. I'm not supposed to have anything because that's how god loves me. Well, that's not the gospel. We're we're we're going into a ditch on just the other side of the road.
Jeffrey Heine:Faithful obedience requires trust, and trust requires that we be in god's word and that we'd be in prayer. And faith and these questions of faith thrive in community. It needs the soil of community to to wrestle through these questions. And I would encourage you that with these questions of how you make money, why you make money, and what you do with money, that you have a conversation about your answers to those questions with somebody. Whether that's a spouse, family member, a friend, a roommate, a coworker, someone.
Jeffrey Heine:Talk about those things, But realize that just coming up with good answers and discerning, that's not ultimate. Because we will never deal with the power of possessions over us until we see and treasure Christ above all of it. And I would encourage you to begin thinking about those things tonight. Will you pray with me? Oh god, you are our eternal treasure.
Jeffrey Heine:God, we, we want to want you. And by your spirit, we ask that you would bring that into fruition in this very moment. That in this moment, those of us who have treasured other things, where we have longed for things other than you, be it in small amounts or tremendous amounts. Lord, free us from that bond. Free us from our possessions that we would hold them loosely, but we would receive them thankfully.
Jeffrey Heine:Lord, in this week where we are celebrating Thanksgiving, we want to recognize that all good gifts come from you. James tells us that, all good gifts come from you, and anything received in thanksgiving should not be despised. So we will not despise the money that you have entrusted to us. We will not despise the many gifts that you have given us, But we will dedicate these things to your kingdom and to your name. And, lord, when we enjoy them, lord, we would we ask that you would fix our minds and our eyes to your wealth, to your riches.
Jeffrey Heine:Because, God, you have told us through Paul and his letter to the Ephesians, But God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, Even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together in Christ Jesus. It is your riches we long for. And these things that you have given us, we will welcome them with thanksgiving, but help us not to desire them over you, the giver of all good gifts. Your wealth of mercy. May that may that be the treasure set before us.
Jeffrey Heine:We pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. I invite you to take this time to pray, maybe even to pray about who you're gonna have these conversations with and what you plan on saying about how you make money and why you make money, what you do with it. The, the essay that I mentioned at the start, there are some copies in the back if you haven't seen it before. It's just a a brief introduction into thinking about these things because we want to be intentional.
Jeffrey Heine:Because we can't just get up here on on a Sunday and say, treasure Jesus above everything, and then not put really practical hands and feet to how we get there. We have to have a different kind of regard for our possessions and a different kind of regard for our work. And so I encourage you to take this time to pray. That the testimony of your possessions would be the greatness of God. That it would be his gospel.
Jeffrey Heine:It would be his love. It would be the cross and the resurrection and the ascension, and the promise of the second coming. That we would live in such a way that we would be expectant people. We're we're about to enter into the season of Advent. It's actually the the new church calendar will will begin, not next week, but the week after that.
Jeffrey Heine:The new new church calendar year begins with Advent, the season of anticipation and expectation. And having that that view and expectation, having having those things deep in our hearts is critical when it comes to our possessions and how we actually view wealth, Because that's, that informs how we view our hope and the future and what's coming. And rather than misery, we have expectations of a king who is kind and in his grace covers over all our foolish ways that we have dealt with possessions. All the foolish ways that we have dealt with work and wanting luxury and longing for those things. Even even our wicked abuse of others.
Jeffrey Heine:Our wicked oppression of others. He, in his kindness and his richness, his wealth of mercy covers those sins. So I invite you now to take time to pray, to fix your eyes on Christ, and to receive the goodness of his grace with thanksgiving.