Riches
In James 5:1-6, James again speaks against those who are rich in goods. He forecasts that misery will come upon them. I believe he was mostly speaking of eternal things. However, I would be remiss if I said that there were no earthly consequences associated with riches and the love of money. Many committed suicide in the Great Depression as their riches wasted away. That wasn't the only time in history when reversals of fortune destroyed those who had been favored. To be clear, the Great Depression was hard on everyone. But it was harder on those who had had an easy life than those who had always struggled.
James declares that the wealth accrued will be a witness against the rich. James lived in a time when there was slavery, and the rule of the master over the slave was absolute. They could be beaten or killed without consequence. James warns that the riches of the leaders of his day would destroy their flesh like fire consumes flesh. They had heaped up treasures to see them through their non working years, but the cries of all of the people who suffered as they unjustly rewarded themselves for their efforts and paid those who made it possible a pittance have come up to the Lord. The Lord sees everything, and remembers everything.
I'd like to say this was a thing of the past, but the disparity between the upper class and the rest of us has been growing by leaps and bounds. You can read my Prayers for the Nation piece for some more information about just how far out of whack things have gotten. The prayers for our country is pretty valid regardless of where on earth you live. God has seen the destruction of the righteous and the workers in the path of the wealthy to the top. They couldn't offer any resistance because they needed the job or a job. And so, the upper class has been enriched.
But God has watched. Their money won't save them. Only the blood of Jesus can fix anyone's status with God almighty. He's the true master of the universe. The wealthy people's own dominion is insignificant to Him, and always will be no matter how much they grasp and try to control. If you're wealthy, turn your heart and life over to Him and start trying to make amends while there is still time. Don't wait for the execution of your will and your trusts to do it. Start now. Do it even if you aren't wealthy for that matter.
What does making amends look like? Well first I'd suggest you get your financial accounts right with God. Have you paid your tithes faithfully? If not pay your tithes and the extra penalty on top of what you owed for willfully disobeying (Leviticus 27:30-33;Deuteronomy 14:22;Malachi 3:8-12). Don't be like Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-10). Getting struck dead for your wicked ways will give you no time to get right with God. Of course, it also helped to straighten a lot of other people out at the same time (Acts 5:11).
Then work to make things right with all the people you've shortchanged over time. Building a college facility or a hospital wing, or a sports complex is a good thing, but it really doesn't directly fix things with the people you've wronged. And if you are doing it to see your name on something in the community, you have your reward already.
Patience
In James 5:7-8, Christians are encouraged to be patient in all things. Sadly, some things that we have to suffer and deal with won't be fixed before we die. The best most of us can look forward to is eternity. But even though our struggle seems long, realize that we are just like a farmer or other person dependent on the seasons. A farmer must wait for the right time to plant, and then must depend on the weather for a bountiful crop, having patience till it is time to harvest. The farmer can't hurry things along, no matter how much he'd like to. And when the time comes to harvest, he can't hurry that too much either, or he'll damage the crop he's harvesting.
We are no different. In all we do, in all we pray, in all we hope for, we are dependent on God and the Holy Spirit to bring all to fruition. Our trying to hurry things along won't be met with success. And frequently, our work will cause us affliction, just like the lives of many of the prophets. All we can do is follow the direction of the Father and let Him and the Holy Spirit work things out in the lives of the lost. We need to continue living the best life we can in God, to be an example to those we love and to those who we don't know are watching us.
But regardless of the Lord's timing, we must not blame and judge one another as warned against in James 5:9. There are few Christian people today, if any, who are as in tune with what God is saying through the Holy Spirit as Jesus Christ was. We all should aspire to that level of closeness to God. Few of us will reach it. Jesus would remind of His passage on the Sermon on the Mount about mote hunting, along with other things when it comes to judging (Matthew 7:1-5). We need to worry about ourselves and our own lives with God and less about our neighbor. That would increase the kingdom of God by leaps and bounds.
We are encouraged to be patient not just for the coming of the Lord to redeem the saints, but also in all His ways. That isn't always easy. But it is very easy to give up and we are encouraged to not do that. Where would the farmer be if he gave up and went to Florida in the middle of the growing season because there wasn't a harvest yet? Broke. Yet that's how we act a lot of the time. If we don't see immediate results we give up. We need to be patient in all things.
Endurance
Going back to James 5:10-11, we are encouraged to endure whatever suffering comes our way, and count ourselves and others blessed who endure to the end. Job is given as an example. Satan tried him sorely, with God's permission. Job said some things he probably wishes he could take back. We've all done that, but most of the times they don't get written down to be examined thousands of years in the future. But when his trials were over, God blessed him again because he was found true to God.
Many of the prophets had to deal with wicked kings who were against them all the time. Their lives were at risk. John was beheaded because he spoke out against an improper relationship between Herod and Herodias, Herod's brother Philip's wife. Many have gone to prison and been killed for the cause of Christ even in recent time. Since the time of Christ, estimates range up to 70,000,000 people have given their lives for Christ as martyrs. More than half of these were in the 20th century.
When we consider numbers like that, it makes it clear how little most of us have to complain about. In most cases, we live lives that are simple and carefree, at least compared to some places in the world.
James adds an aside on oath taking in James 5:12, warning that we not swear or make false promises to God. We should let our answers be simple and direct. Yes or no. Don't you wish all questions could be answered as simply all the time. But in everything we do and say, taking the name of the Lord to declare something right or wrong is incorrect. By the same time, our yes and no needs to mean something.
In our country, and the world in general, in the past a man or woman's word was their bond. If a person promised something, you knew it would be done or would be something you'd have to check on yourself based on the character of the person involved. We need to be in the group where people can trust us to say and do what we say we will say and do. We shouldn't have to have big long legal contracts to compel our actions. Let our words mean something again.
Many families would be better off if all parties remembered this. For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part used to mean something. And we used to be more willing to forgive when someone made mistakes. Let us get back to honoring what we commit to and forgiving each other when mistakes are made. Husbands, wives, children, and grandchildren will thank us. It isn't just fighting Satan and temptation that takes endurance. Living out our lives in a family also takes endurance. Working in a job takes endurance. Going to school to get an education takes endurance.
If we are afflicted by anything, James 5:13 instructs us to pray. If we are not suffering affliction and are happy we are instructed to sing psalms. Pray to God if you need help enduring. Give praise to God when the affliction is ended. Let people know things are well and gather together with each other for prayer. Christ said that where two or more were gathered together, He would be there (Matthew 18:20). That's a great promise from the Holy Spirit to never leave us or forsake us.
Healing
Some important verses about healing are found in James 5:14-15. James declares that if you are sick, you should go to the elders of the church, be anointed with oil in the name of the Lord, and prayed over. We need to have complete faith in this method, but I'm going to throw out a few items that you should consider along with it.
First, the only unconditional promise God made was that if you asked to be saved by Jesus blood and in His name, that God would do so. The rest of God's promises toward His people are conditioned on your actually being one of His people. That should seem straightforward, but it doesn't always seem to be. If you are going to ask God to do something for you, relying on one of His promises as recorded in the Bible, then make sure you meet the preconditions. He might answer anyway. It's up to Him after all. But if you don't meet the conditions of the promise, you can't rely on the promise itself for a reason He should answer your request.
Second, I'm of the opinion that God laid out a plan for His works to be performed in the New Testament church. The work of healing is a gift of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). The baptism of the Spirit is not accepted by some Christian denominations. I'm not sure where this leaves them when wanting God to follow through with miracles and the like. Some flat out believe that healing and miracles and other works of the Spirit were for the early church alone. Neither belief is true, but it's out there.
I feel that James expectation was that an elder of the church would be someone baptized in the Holy Spirit, and thus someone who could let the work of God through the Holy Spirit occur. Having that connection to the Holy Spirit and praying in faith would be the method of bringing healing for any given situation.
The healing would not be something that the person did. God did the healing through the elder being mentioned. I also don't think that the person doing the work had to be an elder. It was just that James felt he could be sure that if he gave the instruction to seek out an elder, that the Holy Spirit would be involved. The Holy Spirit can use any baptized believe to do His work. Christ himself said that we would do greater works than He did, because He went to the Father (John 1:50,5:20,14:12).
Another reason for having an elder present is the hope that once the healing is completed, there will be future testimony about how God worked in a particular situation. God deserves the glory for every great or minor work that He does. I'm sure most things we ask for seem minor to God, even if they are major to us. But regardless, give God the glory. If many people are involved in something, there's a greater chance that the word of God's work today will reach someone who doesn't believe in God and prompt them to ask questions and perhaps be saved.
Confession
James make the declaration in James 5:15 that when a person is healed as a result of the work of an elder, his sins would also be forgiven. I think the way to take this is that we need to get right with God before asking for His help, so if God does a special work in our life like a healing at the hand of an elder, we can be sure at that point in time at least, we are right with God.
But James goes on to say in James 5:16 that we should unburden ourselves of our faults to one another and pray for each other as a general rule of conduct. This is done so there is no impeding God's working in our lives or through our lives, and lists a case in point of being healed.
Prayer
James declares that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. I wish that all of Christianity could get this one concept firmly embedded in their minds. First, it is important to be righteous. We all unfortunately have off days. We have days when we are beaten down, tired, weak, and prone to failure in the first place, and then give into temptation (see above) when we shouldn't. So, first and foremost, we all need to strive to be righteous. And that is righteous in God's eyes and not righteous in our own eyes or in the eyes of Christians and non-Christians. There's frequently a big difference between each of those. The only one that matters is God's view of our righteousness. He was the one who asked us to live holy lives, after all (1 Peter 1:15-16).
But having achieved that state, we need to realize that the prayers of righteous men and women move God. That still doesn't mean you can pray to win the lottery - back to that personal lust thing - but there is much we can pray for in the world that Satan can't stop. Pray for a Christian nation, regardless of what country you live in and don't give up praying. Pray for Christian leaders. If leaders aren't Christian, pray that they give their lives to Christ. If they won't do that, pray for God to get rid of them, one way or another. If the newly selected leader isn't Christian, keep praying. Lather, rinse, repeat as they say. Don't give up. Pray for the lost in your families. Pray for those with addictions. Pray for those who need healed. Pray without ceasing.
I'm not sure if I'd have had the courage to be Abraham and work God down for the number of righteous souls that had to be present in Sodom and Gomorrah to prevent their destruction (Genesis 18:24-31). James gives another example. Elijah prayed earnestly for drought (1 Kings 17:1), and there was no rain in the land for three and a half years. That's dry. Then after Baal's prophets got killed in the famous fire from heaven on the drenched sacrifice story, he prayed again and it rained (1 Kings 18:22-45). I particularly like the response of the people to the firestorm from heaven that took out the offering, wood, stones, and dust around the altar.
18:38 Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
18:39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
Would that we had some more prophets like Elijah today. He's going to be awesome when he and Enoch come back during the tribulation to witness in Jerusalem. Drought and fire from heaven will still be his style (Revelation 11:3-13) with many more fantastic things.
Salvation
The book of James ends with a great promise for all Christians. In James 5:19-20, James recounts the promise that saving a person from eternal death is one of the greatest things we can do. With every person who turns to Christ, more and more sins are swept under the blood of Jesus and hidden forever from God's sight. That we should work to save the lost and wait for the promise of the Father in the Holy Spirit to empower us to do so, were among Christ's last instructions recorded to His church. Let us continue His work in this day and time, while there is still time. Darkness is approaching for the world. And regardless of that eventual fate for the world and following tribulation as God pours out His wrath, know that darkness is approaching for individual people every second. No man's next second is guaranteed. Work to save souls from eternal death.