Tag Archives: wealth

FOUNDATION STONES – 9

Christian Life,

HONOUR THE LORD

Proverbs 3:9-10 NIV
[9] “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; [10] then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”

Here is a principle that is equally as fundamental as the ones we have already set into the foundation of our lives.

However, we may not realise how important this is to us as it is to God because we don’t always recognise the power of the one we serve.

You see, what we do with our money is THE basic test of our attitude towards God and to our material possessions. If money drives the world and the love of money is the root of all evil, then we have a serious decision to make regarding our attitude to and our use of our money.

Jesus put His finger on the real, heart issue…not, you will love whom you serve but, you will serve whom you love!

Matthew 6:24 NIV
[24] “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Can you see the subtle difference?

Jesus pointed out that it is impossible to serve two masters who have opposing values. God is a good Father who meets all our needs as we obey and trust Him. Mammon uses money as the tool to drive our motives and actions through greed. God or Mammon, the choice we make depends on the one we love because of whose values are more important to us.

The answer to our decision depends on to whom we give our allegiance. If we love God, money and possessions will be our servants. If we love money, money will be our master and we will be the slaves of money.

When we love God, it will be our delight to honour Him with our wealth because, after all He is the source of our resources.

Thinking that is directed by His Word will lead us to living that is according to His Word. Together with our obedience to His instructions come the benefits and blessing of His promises.

Jesus reiterated the same principle in His instruction to His disciples about living in God’s kingdom.

When we love God and trust Him implicitly because He knows our needs before we ask Him…

Matthew 6:31-33 NLT
[31] “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ [32] These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. [33] Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

…we will live carefree in the care of God.

All the burden of having to strive to gain wealth, or wheel and deal at the expense of others, is lifted from us. We can gladly share our bounty with those in need because we shift the responsibility of our care from our shoulders to God’s.

God’s economic system, like many of His ways, is opposite to the world’s system. In the world, we work for gain or profit. We invest for interest at a limited percentage. We lend our money to make it grow.

How different in God’s way of doing things! We sow to reap. We share to multiply. We give to create the current that comes back to us. Let’s examine a few of the ways in which God blesses and multiplies our resources when we are generous.

Psalms 33:18-19 NLT
[18] “But the Lord watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love. [19] He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine.”

Psalms 37:21 NLT
[21] “The wicked borrow and never repay, but the godly are generous givers.”…

Psalms 37:25-26 NLT
[25] “Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread. [26] The godly always give generous loans to others, and their children are a blessing.”

The Apostle Paul gives us the clearest picture of how to use our money as a servant.

Giving is an act of love to God.

2 Corinthians 8:8 NLT
[8]”I am not commanding you to do this. But I am testing how genuine your love is by comparing it with the eagerness of the other churches.”

God desires equality, not taking from us through taxes but encouraging us to give from our bounty and receive when we have need.

2 Corinthians 8:13-15 NLT
[13] “Of course, I don’t mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality. [14] Right now you have plenty and can help those who are in need. Later, they will have plenty and can share with you when you need it. In this way, things will be equal. [15] As the Scriptures say, “Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough.”

Giving is planting seed. Your harvest depends on the amount of seed you plant.

2 Corinthians 9:6-8 NLT
[6] Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. [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.”

Planting for a harvest meets your needs and provides for the needs of others.

2 Corinthians 9:8-9 NLT
[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. [9] As the Scriptures say, “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”

God is the source of our seed. He has two purposes in mind.

2 Corinthians 9:10 NLT
[10] “For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.”

The way we use our money to help others has spiritual benefits.

2 Corinthians 9:12-14 NLT
[12]”So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God. [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. [14] And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you.”

So, God’s economic policy, the way of giving and receiving, creates a current that gives everyone an opportunity to share in God’s bounty. This way of doing money frees us from greed. It is a vivid reminder of God’s gift of salvation. He gave us His Son. We share His gift with others and the harvest of precious souls for Jesus grows and grows.

2 Corinthians 9:15 NLT
[15] “Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!”

When we build this stone into the foundation of our lives, we have the assurance that God will always provide for us, no matter what happens in the economy of our country.

Greed – The Sentence Of Death

Christian Life, , , ,

GREED – THE SENTENCE OF DEATH

Jesus told His disciples three stories to illustrate what God thinks of and how He will treat those who consume their wealth on themselves and ignore the needs of others, and to warn them against doing what these people did.

  1. The parable of the rich fool – the danger of hoarding

The first warning comes in the form of a parable about a prosperous farmer whose ground produced such an abundant crop that he had no room to store it all. Instead of sharing his wealth with the needy, he decided to hoard his harvest so that he would not have to work hard for years to come. He did not think of getting in on God’s current of supply by giving to others; he chose to keep it all to himself so that he could take it easy.

God called him a fool – one who knew what the right thing was but didn’t do it. His decision to hoard cost him his life, and he could take nothing with him. No treasure in heaven for him and no heart in heaven because his heart was in the barns with his grain.

This was not only his fate, but will also be the fate of those who are not “rich towards God.” God considers generosity towards others the same as being rich towards Himself.

The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.’ (Matt. 25: 40)

In this instance, as with the other two parables, it is not so much that the farmer was selfish but that selfishness was a way of life. Therefore, his very reaction to his newly-acquired prosperity was an indication that he was not walking in the way of Yahweh. He was off in the wilderness, making his own rules and living his own way. The outcome was inevitable for him – destruction.

  1. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus – the danger of indifference

First of all let me remind you again that good works cannot save us. We are saved from our sin by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus – bottom line. However, as we have already emphasised, generosity is the overflow of a heart that understands the measure of God’s mercy and reciprocates by showing mercy to others.

Jesus’s second warning comes in a series of stories He told the Pharisees who nit-picked about His hobnobbing with the down-and-outs of society. His parables highlighted how out-of-line their attitude of holier-than-thou was – parables about the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son (Luke 15: 1-32) and the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16: 19-31).

The latter story was a warning to the people, and especially to the Pharisees who enjoyed their bounty with no thought for the forgotten people who were right on their doorstep. The rich man did not receive a rap over the knuckles for ignoring Lazarus. He landed in the torment of the fire and there was no escape. To make his torment even worse, he had to watch Lazarus, the forgotten beggar, now enjoying the bounty and comfort of heaven while he could not escape the memory of his neglect.

As with the first parable, this story illustrated the fact that the rich man was on the wrong path. Had he been walking in God’s way, he would have provided for the beggar, not neglected him because Lazarus’ presence would have been a landmark on his journey to Zion.

  1. The parable of the sheep and the goats – the danger of walking on the wrong path

The setting of this story is the end of the age – “when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him” (Matt. 25: 31). This is about national and individual judgment. All the nations of the earth will be gathered before Him and He will separate the people, one by one, into two categories – righteous and unrighteous, sheep and goats.

Let’s go back for a moment, to the Hebraic understanding of “righteous” and “unrighteous”. This is much more than just about those who did good deeds and those who did not. This is about the righteous – the tsadiyq, i.e., those who stay on the path, and the unrighteous – the rasha, i.e., those who have wandered off the path, chosen to go their own way and are in danger of dying in the wilderness.

This is much more than about random acts of kindness or neglect. This is about a way of life that depends on where a person is walking. If we are on the path, walking in the way of Yahweh according to the light of His word, then the landmarks we encounter on the way, the needy people who are Jesus in disguise, give us opportunity to show mercy as we steadily walk the path towards Zion. Even if we do not recognise the face of Jesus in them, we minister to them anyway because it is a way of life.

The ones who have gone off the path and have chosen to live their own way, are oblivious of the needy people around them and they miss Jesus in them because they are far too concerned about keeping themselves alive.

The issue on Judgment Day will be: On which path were you walking? If you were on the way of Yahweh, you would have ministered to the needy as your way of life because you walked on the path lit by God’s Word. Whether you knew it or not, you would have been ministering to Jesus every time you fed or clothed someone, or took care of the sick or the prisoner. This would be the commendation from the King on that day. “You had the true spirit of Torah because you showed mercy.”  You ministered to Jesus even though you did not recognise His face in the faces of those to whom you showed mercy.

Those who chose to walk the wrong path would find, in the end that their destination was not what they expected. The King would not accept the excuse that they did not know it was He they were neglecting when they ignored the needs of the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick and the imprisoned. Their destination was the logical end of their chosen way of life.

Conclusion

As we journey together, we are learning, step by step, that everything Jesus was and taught points to the weightiest part of God’s character. Is it any wonder then that David concluded, at the end of his most famous psalm – Psalm 23 – that God’s goodness and mercy would follow him, like two faithful dogs, for the rest of his life, until he reached his final destination – Father’s house – where he would make his home forever? That’s who God is.

The prophet Micah realised that what God desires most from His people is not rivers of blood or rivers of oil or even the sacrifice of their children.

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Mic. 6: 8)

For God, how we handle our money and possessions is the crucial test of our love – God or Mammon, because whom we love we will serve.

Scripture is 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 first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

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

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Jesus Did Not Say That Wealth Is A Sign Of God’s Blessing

Apologetics, , ,

JESUS DID NOT SAY THAT WEALTH IS A SIGN OF GOD’S BLESSING

In fact, He told His disciples exactly the opposite. From where, then, does the idea come that being wealthy and being blessed are synonymous?

This was the dilemma that Job struggled with when his wealth and possessions were ripped from him in one day. What did God have against him that he was stripped of everything, even his children, and finally even his health? He was not aware of the dialogue that had taken place behind the scenes between God and Satan, in which Satan accused Job of being opportunistic in his relationship with God.

“Strip him to the bone,” he sneered, “and see what he will do then.” Satan accused Job of the worst possible motive for worshipping God – selfishness, what he could get out of it. Would Job still honour and worship God if He took away all his material blessings? In two encounters with Satan, God replied, “Try him, and you’ll see that his love for me is genuine.”

Satan did just that; he stripped Job of everything. Even Job’s wife turned against him. He was reduced to a pathetic shadow of himself, sitting on the ash heap and utterly miserable, bereft even of the fellowship he had with God. His friends accused him of secret sin which Job vehemently denied. His dilemma was clear – he thought that his prosperity was the evidence of God’s favour on him, according to the philosophy of the day; it was stripped from him when he had done nothing wrong. Why? And God refused to speak to him.

In spite of God’s eventual response to Job’s questions, the philosophy still persists in the church today, and especially among the pastors and preachers who build the superstructure of their lives on the same erroneous supposition – and boast about it – that their wealth and acquisitions are the sign of God’s favour.

What did Jesus have to say about the matter?

On one occasion, a rich man approached Him with a question. “What one thing must I do to be assured of eternal life?” He believed he was “righteous” because he claimed to have kept all the commandments from his youth. But he was aware there was still something missing. He had the idea that he could secure his entrance into eternal life by doing one good deed that would earn him God’s acceptance once and for all.

He sounds like so many today who are offered eternal life if they “accept Jesus as their personal Saviour” or answer an “altar call” or even sign a “decision card”. What they are actually wanting is an insurance policy so that they can get into heaven when they die. They can go on living as they like right now because they “have” eternal life as though it were a product they could keep in their pocket to produce like a passport to get into heaven.

Jesus’ response was unnerving, to say the least. “Get rid of the very thing you consider to be the evidence of God’s favour – your money.” But why should he do that? How could he repudiate the reason for his confidence in God? The disciples were baffled when Jesus commented that it was hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. That was not what they were taught and what they believed. After all, wasn’t their ancient ancestor Abraham a very wealthy man, and he was called a friend of God?

Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, 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.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’ (Matt 19: 23-26)

What was the core of Jesus’ response to the young man’s question? “Get rid of your money because it stands between you and me!” It was not his money that was the problem. It was what he did with it that showed where his heart was.

Money in and of itself is amoral. What we do with our money is evidence of who we really love. Jesus taught His disciples a very important lesson.

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Matt. 6: 24).

Jesus used a rabbinic teaching method called a “chiasm”. The central thought is flanked, in this chiasm, by a supporting thought which leads up to and away from the main idea. The main idea in this teaching is not that it is impossible to serve two masters at the same time but that you will serve the master you love.

The rich man in this incident showed clearly by his response that he loved his money more than God because he refused to use his money to serve God by sharing his wealth with the needy. Generosity with his money and possessions would have shown Jesus where his allegiance lay. Zacchaeus had acquired his wealth through dishonesty but, when he met Jesus his heart was so transformed that he willing let go of his money for the privilege of following Jesus. Not this man!

When a preacher of the gospel claims that his wealth, which is often milked from his congregation or TV viewers through guilt, is the evidence of God’s blessing when he uses it to acquire things and live in luxury through it, he has got it all wrong. The Apostle Paul had a serious warning for those who used the gospel to run after money:

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Tim. 6: 3-10)

He had serious counsel for wealthy believers:

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant or to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. (1 Tim. 6: 17-19)

How important that we be careful of those who preach “prosperity” as a cover-up for their own greed. The way we handle our money is the ultimate test of who we really love.

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 first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

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

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

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