Study # 72
February 17, 1999
Harlingen, Texas
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Thesis: The New Testament prejudice against the wealthy is based upon three major factors: Introduction: Last week we looked at James' accusation that some of his readers, being caught up in the profit motive, were making, and intending to pursue, plans which the Lord did not initiate. This is fundamentally contrary to the entire mindset of "bondservanthood". Thus, it is a great evil. No believer has any business "making plans"; it is our business to discover the plans our Master has already made, and to pursue those plans according to His direction. About 90 percent of those plans are already revealed; the ten percent we do NOT know are the details of how we as individuals personally apply the 90 percent we DO know. James concluded that paragraph with the statement that if we know this is God's way of doing things, it is sin for us to refuse to do them this way. Now, in the next paragraph, which, in our Bibles, opens chapter five, James does a very logical thing: he unveils the character and destiny of those who are the envied ones by those he addressed in the previous paragraph. In other words, people who make their own plans are emulating a group of people that are headed toward an unmitigated disaster. This evening we want to begin our study of James' revelation of the destiny of that group...so that we will NOT want to emulate them.