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Published: April 4, 2023, 7 a.m.

Welcome to Day 2129 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom James – Wisdom is Faith in Action 11 – Warnings To The Wealthy – Daily Wisdom Putnam Church message – 11/21/2021 James: Wisdom is Faith In Action – Warnings To The Wealthy We are continuing our series today on the Proverbs of the New Testament, better known as the letter of James.  Last week we focused on The Perils of Playing God, covering Warnings against Judging Others and Warnings About Self-Confidence. Today while we are focused on Thanksgiving, we will explore Warnings to the Wealthy and learn why wealth should not be our primary source of Thankfulness.  So join me on pages 1884-5 in the pew bibles as I read the Scripture for today. I would recommend keeping this passage open as we go throughout the message today: James 5:1-6 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.  Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.  You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.  You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.     Let me take you back about 100 years.  In 1923, an elite group of businessmen met at the luxurious Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. The roster included some of the early twentieth century's most influential, famous, and wealthy moguls. These men were among them:

• Charles M. Schwab—president of Bethlehem Steel Corporation
• Richard Whitney—president of the New York Stock Exchange
• Albert Fall—Secretary of the Interior under President Harding
• Jesse Livermore—Wall Street tycoon
• Ivar Kreuger—head of a global monopoly of match manufacturers

  These heavy hitters controlled more wealth than the total assets of the United States Treasury at the time. Indeed these men would become models of the entrepreneurial spirit and stellar examples of financial success. But fast-forward about twenty-five years or so and look back on the courses of their lives:

• Schwab—died $300,000 in debt in 1939 (nearly 6 million in today’s money)
• Whitney—served time at Sing Sing prison for embezzlement
• Fall—served time for misconduct in office, leaving behind a ruined reputation
• Livermore—committed suicide in 1940, describing himself as “a failure.”
• Kreuger—shot himself in 1932 after his global monopoly collapsed!

  Buried beneath the rubble of humiliation, defeat, crime, sickness, and financial collapse, these men—along with a number of their colleagues—died in a painful, pathetic condition. Their wealth, power, and prestige did nothing to soothe the personal anxiety and guilt they suffered in life. The reality is that great intelligence and hard work can make a person wealthy. But it takes God-given wisdom and supernatural humility to manage wealth and influence.   Last week James warned us against playing God instead of submitting to God’s sovereignty...