LIFE GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
Wednesday Night, November 14, 2007 “Warning to Rich Oppressors”
James 5:1-6
5 Minutes - Welcome / Prayer
5 Minutes - OPEN
Read the text for tonight – James 5:1-6.
What feelings rise in you as you read this? Why?
15 Minutes - DIG
Just as we anticipated, James now comes back to the subject of wealth (his previous treatment of such are 1:10-11 and 2:3-6). Of all the New Testament passages about sins of the rich, these six verses stand out! Keep in mind that James was writing during a time where there was a great gulf between the rich and the poor.
Here James expressed anger against the rich because of the way they had treated the poor and less fortunate.
What did he predict would happen to these people?
Have you ever noticed that James warns rich people to expect misery? James wanted us to know that wealth doesn’t bring security and contentment.
From the three indictments against the rich, what do you learn about the source of their wealth and what is the calamity predicted from their respective enterprise (vv. 2-3)?
With these illustrations, James made a statement that amassing and trusting in wealth is a damaging and degrading attitude (Mt. 13:22; Mk. 4:19; Lk. 8:14; 12:21; 1 Tim. 6:9).
When do we cross the line of saving and investing our money appropriately and fall prey to “hoarding our wealth”?
What is the bigger crisis that the rich will face in the future?
James gets very specific as he details just how it was that these folks were able to accumulate their wealth. What were the three abuses they had committed (vv. 4-6)?
15 Minutes - REFLECT
What is the message here for our time and culture?
Apply James’ principles to our times as it relates to . . .
• What are the distinguishing marks of someone who is materialistic and who has crossed the line into a life of self-indulgence?
• As a business owner, what does it mean to be an equal opportunity employer? What are the appropriate standards of sharing wealth with all the employees of your company? Why is it wrong to accumulate wealth at the expense of others?
• What is our responsibility as Christians (and collectively, as the church) to deal with poverty in our city?
A CASE STUDY
A youth minister at one of the area churches took a group of teens to Haiti where they worked among some of the poorest people in the world. After a week of endearing themselves to these people, the teens were appalled by the poverty and social injustice they saw. On their return trip home, all the teens agreed they had to look for ways to help these poor people and they shared ideas about what they could do from afar that would make a difference. They decided they would organize an annual mission trip back to Haiti and they would raise funds during the year to purchase goods and supplies to take with them as well as to give money to every poor family to buy what they needed.
On a completely different front, because of the embarrassment they felt for how the American corporations were taking advantage of the cheap workforce in Haiti, they vowed to boycott the products manufactured by these corporations and they developed petitions to send to these corporate headquarters voicing their criticism. One evening one of the teens approached one of the leaders in their church to have him sign the petition only to find out he was on the Board of Directors of one of these companies.
• When our teens travel to foreign countries on mission trips, do you as a parent want your teen to be moved to take action in response to what they have seen and experienced? If so, to what degree?
• Did the teens in this case study go too far in deciding to send petitions to the American corporations who they felt were exploiting the poor people of Haiti?
• What should the teenager say to this leader in his church upon learning of his participation in one of these companies? Did the teenager have the right to express his opinion / concern to this person?
• What would be the proper reaction this leader should have when confronted with this concern?
• Is it acceptable to have a difference in opinion about such a matter? Or is there something un-Christian about what these corporations were doing in Haiti?
5 Minutes - CLOSING PRAYER
From this discussion, what are those things you feel compelled to pray about tonight? Pray about these matters one by one and bring them before your Heavenly Father.
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