Tag Archives: rich

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – RICH TOWARDS GOD… THE QUESTION

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RICH TOWARD GOD… THE QUESTION

“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God.” Luke 12:21.

Rich toward God? What does that mean?

There is a great deal of difference between getting rich and being rich. Endless numbers of people within the community of believers are eager to tell us that it is our God-given right to get rich, and how to get rich. Strange that the Bible doesn’t give us the ‘Seven Steps to Getting Rich’ but, throughout Scripture we are told, even urged how to use what we have to bless others. 

The state of being rich is not easy to define. There is no standard by which to measure wealth. To someone who is hungry, a loaf of bread is ‘rich’. We can never answer the question, ‘How much is enough?’ because ‘enough’ always moves, depending on our insatiable wants. A simple definition of rich would be ‘enough for my needs and some over to share with others.’ That puts richness within the reach of people who would never see themselves as rich.

The Apostle Paul has some specific counsel to Timothy for those who recognise that they are rich. In 1 Timothy 6:17 he says, ‘Command those who are rich in this present world neither to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain…’ Now that is wise counsel.  Paul encapsulates in a few words the danger of having riches in this world but not being rich – an arrogant attitude and a false hope. Funny how owning ‘things’ gives us the idea that we are better than those who don’t have them! What is it about ‘things’ that adds to our intrinsic worth, especially since we can’t take them with us?

Secondly, what is it about ‘things’ that makes us feel secure? Does our connection to God as our Father mean nothing without some numbers in our bank account? Do His infallible promises mean nothing if we don’t have notes in our pocket? How secure are we near the end of the month? This is the acid test of our confidence in God.

Paul goes on, ‘…but to put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.’ Now that’s security that does not depend on the exchange rate, the stock market or the state of the world’s economy! It’s a fine balancing act to live in God’s kingdom and, at the same time, to navigate the world’s system to do it. We are ‘in the world but not of it.’ Therefore money and possessions should always be our servant and never our master.

God is neither stingy nor a killjoy. He means us to enjoy the material blessings He showers on us but, and here’s the twist in the tale. God has another agenda in His economic system. Why is He so generous to us? Why does He shower His bounty on us? Not because we deserve His generosity. After all we are the rebel race. If we miss this, we have missed the reason for our existence. He does it for His glory!

God governs His world by universal laws which never change and always apply. God’s provision for us always comes in the wake of our giving first. The simple rule is, ‘Give, and it will be given to you…’ Whatever we need, we are instructed to give away and it will come back to us in abundant measure.

To be rich toward God, therefore, is to recognise that everything we have is from Him,  that everything for Him and that we are stewards of His resources for ourselves and others who have no means of providing for themselves.

He Noticed

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HE NOTICED

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth a few cents. Calling His disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They gave out of their wealth but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.’ Mark 12: 41-44).  

Why did Jesus sit and watch people putting their offerings into the temple treasury? Didn’t He teach His disciples that the left hand should not know what the right hand was doing? Yes, He did. He was looking at hearts and motive.

Did you notice how the wealthy people “threw” their money into the receptacles? These were trumpet-shaped clay jars, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom to prevent theft. When the coins were thrown into the container it made a ringing sound. Of course the wealthy ones exaggerated the sound to be noticed – and admired for their generosity. Guess who were at the top of the parade? The hypocrites!

Be careful not to practise your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full (Matt. 6: 1-2).

Jesus sat and watched because He was a keen student of people – and He had a group of men who needed teaching. So, as He watched, He saw an endless stream of wealthy people tossing their coins into the treasury. Some threw them in with force and looked around to see who was watching. Jesus noticed them. Some dropped their money in as though it was a routine thing to do. Jesus saw them too.

Then an elderly women, thin and poorly dressed, sidled up to the jar and, with eyes downcast, opened her hand and dropped in two tiny coins that made no sound as they fell into the jar. Then she silently melted into the crowd and disappeared from view.

“Did you see that?” Jesus announced excitedly to His disciples. “That little old lady who has just dropped her offering into the box?” With wonderment in His voice, He exclaimed, “She gave away every last cent of her livelihood. Now that’s generosity! All the others gave a little of their much. She gave much of her little. That’s the difference!” And He noticed.

So what’s it all about? Does God expect us to give everything we have to feed others and to go without ourselves? Was His instruction to the rich young ruler for everyone? “Give everything you have to the poor . . . “ No, not at all. God is realistic. He knows that we have families to feed and financial commitments to meet.

But there is something important that we as believers in Jesus need to understand. We are stewards, not owners of what we have. Moses reminded the Israelites:

But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant which He swore to your ancestors, as it is today (Deut. 8: 18).

We think that we are the source and the owners of our money and possessions and that it is all ours. Not true! God owns it all, and He has the right to tell us how to use it. Unlike the world system which pays interest, God works with percentages, and increases by multiplication. Look at the natural world. Money is like seed. When you eat it, it disappears until there is none left. When you plant it, there will be a harvest for the next year. Sow 20% of your seed and there will be an abundant harvest to feed your family and enough to sow again for the following year.

He instructed His people to give 20% of their income away to meet the needs of others, and live on 80% without guilt because this was their duty. Why their duty? Since God was generous to them by providing resources to meet their needs, they were obliged to be generous to those who had no means to provide for themselves. This was not about how benevolent they were towards others. This was about how grateful they were for God’s generosity to them.

Judging by the way many churches struggle financially, especially during an economic downturn, God’s people are horribly ungrateful, pathetically ignorant or woefully unbelieving. You see, it takes a partnership of obedience and trust in the trustworthiness of God and His promises to live in and above a world system that orbits around money. Either God’s promises are true or He is a liar and not worthy of our worship.

This little widow woman obviously trusted Him in the midst of a world of religious hypocrites. She knew that God would care for her – so she gave what she could – everything she had because her coins added up to the least she was permitted to give.

What we do with our money is, in the end, the measure of our obedience and faith in God.

So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? (Luke 16: 11).

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.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

 

 

A Radical Paradigm Shift

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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.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

Whose Perspective Counts?

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WHOSE PERSPECTIVE COUNTS?

“Just then He looked up and saw the rich people dropping offerings in the collection plate. Then He saw a poor widow put in two pennies. He said, ‘The plain truth is that this widow has given by far the largest offering today. All these others made offerings that they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford — she gave her all.'” Luke 21:1-4 (The Message).

He noticed! Isn’t that just like God?

I don’t think Jesus was sitting near the temple treasury specifically watching and judging people as they dropped in their offerings. He just happened to notice an obviously poor woman, mingling with the rich people, giving her gift as they put their offerings in the collection box.

Why did she stand out among the crowd? Did her threadbare clothing give her away? Was she wearing widow’s garb? The wealthy people would have dressed accordingly, and she would not have blended in with them. Perhaps she attracted Jesus’ attention because His heart was always for the underdog.

In the Sermon on the Mount, He has spoken out against the practice of the ‘hypocrites’ who gave their money in such a way that they wanted to attract attention to their ‘generosity’. The collection boxes were trumpet-shaped containers which prevented would-be thieves from helping themselves because the base was too narrow to get their hands in. If a person wanted to be noticed, he would toss his coins into the funnel so that it would make a ringing sound, hence the saying, ‘Don’t blow your own trumpet.’

Amid the ostentation of the rich, this poor widow slipped in and unobtrusively dropped in her two small coins, the smallest denomination in their currency. And Jesus noticed! Once again His comment puts our ‘generosity’ into God’s perspective which differs so much from our own. He noticed, not how much she gave, but how much she had left.

Of course, that should not put us on a guilt trip. God is realistic. He does not expect us to give our entire livelihood away. What would be the point of that? But He does hold us accountable as stewards of what He has entrusted to us. The difference between the attitude of God’s people and the people who refuse to acknowledge Him should be, but is not always, that we are guided by God’s requirements and not by greed. He gives generously so that we will share our resources with others.

The first thought that comes to me is that this widow’s generosity was prompted by her identity with poor people. As a widow, if she had no family to support her, she was dependent on the generosity of others. She knew what it felt like to depend on others for her livelihood. She also knew what it was like to have nothing. Her two little coins were not much, but it was all she had to share with others.

Secondly, to give all she had meant that she had faith in God to supply her need, risking, everything on the faithfulness of God. That introduces another dimension to our responsibility to obey God — faith, which is spelt r-i-s-k. It is not difficult to take faith-risks in other areas of our lives but in the money category…that’s different!

This little woman caught Jesus’ attention because her action lined right up with God’s perspective. He did not see her as a poor nobody because of her appearance or her station in life. He saw her as great in God’s kingdom because she understood, believed and put into practice God’s will, and God always responds to obedience.

God works, not by giving to us according to our need but by meeting our need when we take care of the needs of others. When we give, we create a current that brings God’s supply to us through the generosity of the others. That’s God’s wisdom!!

There Was Once a Rich Man

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THERE WAS ONCE A RICH MAN

“‘There was once a rich man, expensively dressed….wasting his days in conspicuous consumption….A poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, had been dumped on his doorstep. All he lived on was…scraps off the rich man’s table…Then he died, this poor man….The rich man also died….In hell and in torment, he looked up….He called out…”Send Lazarus…”…But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember…'” Luke 16:19-31 (The Message).

A familiar story to Bible-readers, but what is the point of this parable? Hebrews read for identification. Who am I in the story? How often Jesus directed His stories at the Pharisees as a wake-up call! If God’s word is a seed, then Jesus sowed lavishly into the ears of the religious leaders, but to no avail.

This is quite a shocking story for several reasons:

Firstly, it uncovers the heart of this rich man. Jesus had no issues with his being rich. In fact, the Apostle Paul stated categorically that Jesus Himself was rich. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV). He had issues with what the rich man did with his riches.

In this case, he spent it all on himself, not just on his needs, but on a sumptuous and lavish lifestyle that made him blind to the need of the poor man at his gate. A simple but graphic description of what was known as the ‘yetzer harah’ – the evil eye or the eye of darkness – the inward-looking eye that sees no-one but self.

Secondly, Jesus shows us the destiny of greedy and selfish people. Hell is not about God getting people back for not listening to Him. It’s a consequence of a life squandered on self instead of fulfilling God’s higher purpose. It was the garbage dump of the city where worthless stuff was burnt – a terrible tragedy and sorrow for the God who gave us the freedom to choose, knowing that that freedom could cost us our eternal destiny.

Thirdly, it smashed into the Hebrew philosophy that wealth was equal to God’s blessing and poverty a curse on people who were out of favour with God. How could this rich man land up in hell if his wealth was a token of God’s favour? This must have shocked both the Pharisees and the disciples. On one occasion, a rich man came to Jesus to ask what he needed to do to have the assurance of eternal life. Jesus told him to get rid of his wealth because it stood between him and following Him. The young man refused.

Jesus’ comment puzzled His disciples. ‘How difficult it is,’ He said, ‘for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ The disciples blurted out, ‘Who, then, can be saved?’ That was a shock to them. If rich people, who were supposed to be the blessed ones, could not enter the kingdom, what hope was there for the rest?

Jesus’s story reveals something much deeper than wealth=blessing=salvation. It was not having wealth but what you did with it that revealed your heart. Wealth is a good servant but a terrible master. What we do with is it the measure of our love for God.

Fourthly, not even torment in hell changed the heart of this man. O yes, he thought about his brothers but only because he did not want them to experience the terrible end of a worthless life, which presupposed that they were living just as he had. But his attitude to the poor man had not changed. He still regarded him as less than himself. ‘Send Lazarus,’ he instructed Abraham, as though Lazarus were his servant to dispatch as he chose.

Jesus was not, for one moment, advocating good works as a way of salvation. His blood alone can forgive the guilt of our sin and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness, but He presupposed that our hearts will also be transformed so that we do not continue living self-indulgent lives. Generosity is a sure sign that our hearts and lives have been changed, If not, we need to re-evaluate so that we do not land up where the rich man did because he assumed….