James 5:1-6 (KJV)
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
There are two type of rich people.

• One is those who gain riches by because of greed as shown here.
  • Because of greed, they commit fraud like not paying fair wages to their workers withholding money earned from those who can not defend themself and are poor. Fraud also can inclined using loopholes in the law make make more profits or even selling something that is not in the actual condition that was advertised for example reducing the number of km, of the tachometer, on a car that is being sold.
  • Instead they use money that should have been paid to the workers to only fulfill their pleasures and indulgence. Baker’s New Testament commentary put this as follows: “In other words, the money taken from the poverty-stricken laborers is spent on extravagances.”
  • They even murder to get more money to satisfy their greed. Besides direct murder that can even include by providing an unsafe working environment where the workers get killed because of negligence as the owner is trying to save money so they can make more profits and use it for themselves.
  • This greed results in neglecting to be generous see Luke 16:19-31.
• The second rich person does not love money and uses it wisely is the one who fears, obeys and trust GOD. This results in being:
  • Generous giving when lead to “Mark 14:7 (KJV) For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.” “Proverbs 22:9 (KJV) He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.”
  • Giving cheerfully “2 Corinthians 9:7 (NKJV) So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.”
  • Honest and not defrauding “Colossians 4:1 (KJV) Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.” In Ephesians 6:5-9 It shows us the attitude the LORD want sus to have both as servants and masters. “Matthew 22:21 (NKJV) They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.””
  • Good steward and not wasteful “1 Peter 4:10 (KJV) As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”. Have a read of Matthew 25:14-30.

As we can see in 1 Timothy 6:10 (KJV) “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

Isaiah 32:5-8 (KJV) summaries it as follows: “The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful. 6 For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. 7 The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. 8 But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.”
Therefore lets us be like the second person in whatever capacity the LORD gives us.