What About the Profit Motive?

James 5:1-6 Come now, you who are rich, weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are going to come upon you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in these last days. 4 Listen, the wages that you failed to pay the workers who reaped your fields are crying out! And the cries of the harvesters have entered the ears of the Lord of Armies. 5 You have lived for pleasure on the earth and led a life of luxury. You have fattened your hearts on the day of slaughter. 6 You condemned and murdered the Righteous One. Does he not oppose you?

Every so often you will hear pastors, theologians, or politicians claim that capitalism is the economic system that is God-sanctioned. In Economics 101 you're taught that the basis for capitalism is the profit motive--that is maximizing profit while minimizing expenses. And while it’s generally true that this system produces the most and greatest variety of goods at the lowest cost, this does not mean that capitalism is inherently moral. By itself it is morally bankrupt because it is driven by and feeds on selfish motives, and if left unchecked, results in greed, exploitation, and eternal self-destruction. In this word of God James turns slightly aside from addressing his fellow-Christian readers, whom he's been referring to as his brothers (and sisters), and aims a Spirit-inspired warning shot across the bow of a specific segment of the population—whether they claim to be Christians or not. He writes, "Come now, you who are rich..." 

As with our previous devotion on boasting, where the issue was not our making plans but rather bragging about them, so too here the sin is not and cannot be merely being rich. Scripture abounds with examples of incredibly wealthy believers whose lives of faith we would do well to imitate—Abraham, Job, and King David among them. So long as one is not taking advantage of the poor or denying the basic necessities of life to those in desperate need, Scripture does not condemn making a reasonable profit on one's sale or work (cf. Lev. 25:35-37;  Prov. 14:23; 31:18; Eccl. 5:9). Therefore, the matter at hand is not the number of zeroes in one’s bank account. It is how that wealth was and is being acquired, and how it is currently being used. Is it being employed as an expression of one's faith and an extension of God's providential generosity, or as a personal status symbol and an excuse to indulge one's carnal appetites?

Any who put their hope in hoarding up wealth will finally find themselves bitterly disappointed. Money and fine clothes do not last and are of this world only. As Jesus once said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matt. 6:19-20).  Nor will any amount of riches be able to shield anyone from the judgment to come. The uber wealthy will not be able to evade God's courtroom summons, and James says that one of the prime evidences of faith (or lack thereof) that God will be looking for is how a person has used the money and resources the Lord has given them. All who have hoarded up riches for themselves will find their glitter melted away and their own stockpile will testify against them, burning through the illusion of their morality like an acid spill. In this closing act of the world prior to Judgment Day, they have stored up treasures to no good purpose as these will all be burned to ash in the end (cf. 2 Peter 3:7-8). 

The profit motive not only seeks to maximize income, but to minimize production costs, often at the expense of worker compensation. Without mandating amounts or percentages, the Bible repeatedly insists that workers (and even one's working animals) deserve a fair and livable wage in keeping with the work performed (cf. Deut. 24:14-15; 1 Tim. 5:18). It is callous, criminal, and ungodly to pay one's workers a pittance just because you can or because market forces ensure that they have nowhere else to go. While the deliberately underpaid may have no legal recourse in this world, their cries for relief and justice will rise into the ears of God Almighty, and he will not forget. Like oxen being fattened for slaughter, all whose unbelieving hearts are clogged up with the drive to exploit their workers for the sake of lavish self-indulgence, will find themselves meeting the sword of the general of angel armies on the day of judgment. They will have Jesus, the Righteous One, the Defender of the Innocent, as their enemy, and they will not escape. In contrast, the righteous are generous towards their workers and open their hands to the needy (cf. Deut. 15:11; Prov. 14:31), knowing that all are equally loved by God and one's material circumstances have no bearing on their worth (cf. John 3:16; Ps. 145:13b).

When capitalism is abused and blindly followed, the devil can use it to sow the seeds of division, pitting owners and workers against each other. Instead, Jesus reminds us that the godly use of worldly wealth includes “gain[ing] friends for yourselves“—that is using our God-given riches to build relationships that aid and expand the reach of the gospel—"so that when [your wealth] is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings" (Luke 16:9). Our Lord Jesus is the prime example of this compassionate mindset: he willingly gave up the "good life" of heavenly riches and glory. He lived, suffered, died, and rose so that through the gospel he could freely dispense the wealth of his righteousness to us and all who believe. All for our maximum and eternal profit! 

Questions / Personal Reflection:

1.) It is an ever-present temptation to rely on money and what we imagine it can do for us rather than on the Lord. List some of the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs we think money can provide for us. How does each of these really come from the Lord?

2.) Being "rich" is surely a relative term. Most of us in America live a life of ease and luxury hitherto unknown in world history. Whether you consider yourself "rich" or not, how do you (or can you) use the money God has given you to better serve and express your faith and love in Christ? 

Prayer: Lord God, you are the giver of all things. You supply my daily bodily needs. In Christ Jesus you have supplied my forgiveness and eternal salvation. Open my heart and mind so that I use your wealth towards what is eternally profitable for me and the people you have placed in my life. Amen.  

[1] From the Evangelical Heritage Version.