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MY FATHER CAN DO IT!

Christian Life, ,

Matthew 19:23-26 NLT‬
[23] “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. [24] I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” [25] The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. [26] Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”

The Jews believed that wealth and prosperity were signs of God’s blessing. Job had to rethink the idea because, even when he protested that he was innocent of wrongdoing, he suffered terrible loss.

Jesus turned this idea on its head. He saw wealth as a hindrance to faith in Him. People trusted in their money instead of trusting in Him. The rich young ruler walked away from Him because he refused to disconnect from his love of money that stood between him and following Jesus.

Money is the primary consideration in everything we do. It’s money that drives the world. Doctors and lawyers conduct their professions around money. Private hospitals run businesses at the expense of the sick and suffering.

We even evaluate our social standing by how much money we have or don’t have. Where we live, what we wear or eat, what vehicle we drive, where our children go to school, who our friends are all determined by our bank balances.

The services we use to run our lives are driven and decided by money. If we are poor, we must use the services supplied by the government. If we have money, we can afford medical aid and other private services. We have no access to legal services without money.

In the end, money determines much of the quality of our lives. No wonder then, that we hang onto and depend on what we have, and won’t let it go… the poor because they have so little, and the wealthy because they have so much.

Money is a reluctant servant and a cruel and demanding master. Slaves of money are fearful and insecure.

However, the problem is not money itself but the love of money that holds us in its grip.

‭1 Timothy 6:10 NLT‬
[10] “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”

Why did Jesus have more to say about money, wealth, and possessions than many other relevant issues in life? He was well aware of the power that money has over people, even God’s people. Put very simply, He said that we will serve the one we love the most, God or mammon (the spiritual power of money).

‭Matthew 6:19-21, 24 NLT‬
[19] “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. [20] Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. [21] Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be….
[24] “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”

However, as impossible as it is for a wealthy person to renounce his faith in his money and choose to come under Jesus’ authority, everything changes when God is in the mix.

The seemingly impossible becomes exceedingly possible when the power of God’s love replaces the grip of money in our hearts.

Righteousness and generosity came to mean almost the same thing in God’s economy. Using money to serve people is a way of serving God.

‭Psalms 37:21, 25-26 NIV‬
[21] “The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously;…
[25] I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. [26] They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be a blessing.”

Generosity begets generosity. God pledges to meet the needs of those who meet other’s needs.

‭Matthew 6:33 NLT‬
[33]”Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

‭2 Corinthians 9:7-8, 13 NLT‬
[7] “You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” [8] And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.”

Generosity, then, is a work of God’s grace, changing stingy, selfish people into generous givers, confirming God’s salvation in them and achieving His goal…showing who He really is.

[13]”As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ.”

In contrast to the world’s economic system of buy and selling, hoarding and gaining interest and dividends in return, God’s system of giving and receiving, sowing and reaping, creates a current that supplies needs and keeps resources circulating. This is a faith/grace partnership which perfectly fits into the ways of God’s kingdom.

Jesus’ answer to His disciples’ question, “Who, then, can be saved?”, if not the wealthy, was simply, “Don’t worry, my Father can do it!”

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – LINKED TO THE SOURCE

Bible Study, ,

LINKED TO THE SOURCE

23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:23-27

Peter was dumbfounded. As spokesman as usual, he blurted out what was on his mind. Jesus’ observation, in response to the rich man’s crestfallen reaction to His reply, left him (Peter) completely confused. According to his understanding, wealth was the evidence of God’s favour and blessing on a life. Surely, then, that blessing must include the reward of eternal life. And yet this man had no such assurance and was seeking it from Jesus through some deed he thought he needed to do.

As the man walked slowly away, Jesus gazed after him with a wistful comment. Wealth is not a sign that one is in the kingdom. Rather, it’s the biggest hindrance to experiencing and enjoying the kingdom – unless, of course, one’s wealth is a servant to serve those who are in the kingdom.

The disciples’ minds reeled. If wealthy people have no chance of experiencing the kingdom of God, what chance do we poor folk have? Jesus’ reply was blunt. “No chance at all if you think it depends upon you. Every chance in the world if you realise it’s about God’s grace.” Once again Jesus zeroed in on the heart of the matter. Externals don’t count. Wealth or poverty is not the determining factors. Eternal life is a matter of the heart.

And again, Peter opened his mouth. “Look how good we are, Jesus!  We left everything for you.” Jesus graciously acknowledged that. “Yes, Peter, you have and you won’t lose out for me. You’ll get back more than you forfeited, but remember that this journey is not trouble-free. What you receive in this life is only temporary, and it brings its own troubles. The true reward is your bond with me. That will last forever long after this life is over.”

Paradoxically, what might appear to be God’s favour and blessing actually turns out to be a hindrance, pushing the ones who think they have it all to the end of the queue. Those who have nothing and are aware of it stand first in line for the benefits of depending on and living in union with their source. They don’t need the world’s wealth because they are joined by faith to the Giver of life. They are linked to a limitless supply. That is true life.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – EVERY CHANCE IF YOU TRUST GOD

Bible Study, ,

EVERY CHANCE IF YOU TRUST GOD

“Seeing his reaction, Jesus said, ‘Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who have it all to enter God’s kingdom? I’d say it’s easier to thread a camel through a needle’s eye than get a rich person into God’s kingdom.’

“‘Then who has any chance at all?’ the others asked.

“‘No chance at all,’ Jesus said, ‘if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.'” Luke 18:24-27.

Jesus’ terse comment when the rich man turned away, stirred up some silt in His disciples’ thinking about salvation.

They followed the general understanding of their day, that wealth was evidence of God’s favour and blessing; hence a rich person was a natural candidate for ‘salvation’. This way of thinking didn’t necessarily take into account the way that riches were acquired. Jesus’ statement blew a hole in that idea!

Perhaps they also thought, like this young man, that they could work their way into God’s favour by earning ‘brownie points’, keeping the law as best they could.

Unlike any other man-made religion in the world, becoming a disciple of Jesus is not a do-it-yourself or self-help religion. In fact, it is not a religion nor was it ever intended to be.

Following Jesus is a partnership based on the choice to believe and accept His forgiveness, and backed by God’s powerful response in which He, by His Spirit, brings a person’s dead spirit back to life – “As for you, you were dead in your trespasses and sins…But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions…” Ephesians 2: 1,4, 5 (NIV).  He brings about a transfer from slavery to Satan’s control by deception into the freedom to believe and trust God because of His son’s sacrifice for sin.

This transfer has some pretty surprising results. We are brought from death to life and from darkness to light. “Darkness” refers to our natural disposition towards selfishness and greed; “light” implies a new disposition of God-awareness in place of self-absorption, and generosity towards others in place of self-centredness. From slavery to sin and the devil, we become the sons of God with all the rights and privileges of sonship, brothers and co-heirs with Jesus of everything that belongs to Him by His right of sonship.

Our destiny is instantly changed from the rubbish dump of wasted potential to life in the realm of the eternal God where death is abolished and we rule, in partnership with Jesus, over God’s entire recreated order, according to how we served our apprenticeship here on earth.

Now, for those who are willing to take the long look, that’s a trade-off even a fool would not want to miss. But what’s the catch? Jesus said, ‘Money!’

Human beings are so dazzled by money and things that they are completely blind to its transience and vulnerability. Money and possessions only apply to this life. Even if we could line our caskets with dollars or their equivalent, they would stay in the coffin and rot like our physical bodies because they belong to this present order of things and have no value or influence in the life of the spirit.

Looking at it from Jesus’ point of view, we realise how impossible it is for anyone to ‘achieve’ eternal life on his own.  No self-help can cure blindness. It has to be a work of God, a rescue, if you will, from the fatal grip of ‘things’. But what does it take to get free? An honest recognition of money’s snare and a cry for help is where it begins. That’s all it takes for God to hear and respond.

It doesn’t only have to be money. It can be anything that comes between us and Jesus; addictions, emotions, habits, choices, people, reactions; whatever it is that blinds us to the value of eternal life can be removed by the power of God. All it needs is a ‘want to’ and an honest confession of need.

And Jesus does the rest!

A Radical Paradigm Shift

Bible Study, , ,

A RADICAL PARADIGM SHIFT

Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!’ The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus said again, ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’

The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ’With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.’ (Mark 10: 23-27).

That comment got the disciples going! What Jesus had just said flew in the face of their understanding of wealth. They believed that prosperity was an indication of God’s favour and blessing while poverty meant just the opposite. But Jesus was telling them that a rich person had a hard time getting into the kingdom of God? It made no sense to them.

In the company of Jesus they had to “unlearn” many of the ideas they grew up with. They believed, for example, that illness and physical disabilities were a punishment for sin. Hence the question, when they encountered a man born blind (John 9), ‘Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’  Some of their beliefs almost resembled the idea of karma – a kind of fatalistic outlook on life.

Time and again Jesus had to pull them back to reality. They had just witnessed what money and possessions did to a man who could not let go. Wealth was not a blessing for him. It was the thing that stood between him and eternal life. He chose to trust in his money instead of following Jesus. But what was the problem? Was it wrong to have money? No, money was not his problem; his attitude towards his money was the issue.

Jesus was adamant that no one can serve God and money. He did not say “Have money!” He said, “Serve money.” What’s the difference? Money is a good servant but a terrible master. One of the “thorns” which choked the Word of God was “the deceitfulness of riches”. Why is money deceitful? Because it cannot deliver on what it promises.

Money and possessions cannot buy health, happiness or peace of mind, and certainly not the assurance of eternal life. Money dehumanises people. The more they have, the more they want. “Enough” is always just out of reach. Instead of using their money to serve people, they use people to make more money.

We don’t have to be brilliant to realise that it is money that drives the world. Unfortunately, the love of money is just as real in the church as it is in the world. The same philosophy drives many in the church as it does outside. How many wealthy pastors unashamedly attribute their affluent lifestyle to “God’s blessing” while, in actual fact they mild their congregation through guilt.

In Jesus’s equation, quite the opposite is true. Zacchaeus revealed one of the real evidences of a changed heart – his attitude to his possessions. Was it only because, as a tax collector for Rome, he had extorted money from his fellow Jews to line his own pocket? Perhaps, but he had also become a “new creation” in the presence of Jesus. He changed from being a greedy money-grabber to being will to give away where he saw need, and make restitution for his theft.

His was not an isolated case, either. After Pentecost, when three thousand people came into the kingdom of God in one day, a new spirit prevailed among them. Instead of being “getters” they became givers. They sold their possessions and shared their wealth so that there was equality among them.

Only God can change ah greedy heart. Jesus told Nicodemus that entry into the kingdom of God required a work of God’s Spirit. It was like being “born again”, starting life all over again with a different disposition and perspective. It took a miracle of God’s grace to do that. A good was to discern whether a person, including oneself, is truly a citizen of the heavenly kingdom is to examine his (or your) attitude to money. How willingly do you share with those in need?

But it goes even deeper than that? For some people, giving money away is not the issue. Why they do it is the issue. Is it to get praise from admirers for their generosity like the Pharisees? Is it because they feel sorry for the poor? Is it because they feel good about being benevolent? None of these count for God. There is only one worthy motive for being generous – gratitude to God for His mercy. It’s not about us. It’s about Him! That’s the spirit that reveals where your heart is.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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