Title: Wealth and the Life of the Saints
Contents
♡♥♡ Wealth and the life of the saints / Luke 16:13
*** Introduction
This is the testimony of Pastor Juan Carlos Ortiz, who is giving a fresh shock to the world of faith.
After receiving permission from the session for two weeks of prayer, I left the church and went to a quiet place to focus on prayer and meditation. At that time, the Holy Spirit had the experience of breaking him. The Lord said.
“You are preaching the gospel the same way the Coca-Cola Company sells Coca-Cola, or the same way the Digest magazine sells books and magazines. You are using all the tricks you learned in school. Where the hell can you find my hand in your work?”
was that. The word continued.
“You are not growing up. You think you grew up because you increased the number of church members from 200 to 600, but that is not growing, but gaining weight.”
Carnal concerns are the most common trap we Christians fall into. And it would not be an exaggeration to say that the representative of the physical trap is ‘wealth’. God. Even in the entire Old Testament, the danger of ‘wealth’ stands out clearly. In particular, the New Testament points to wealth as the most dangerous element that harms our spiritual life. In Luke 18:24-25, “Jesus saw him and said to him, How difficult is it for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God; it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God… In 1 Timothy 6:10, he directly warned, “The love of money is the root of all evil. .
In the old days, Puritans were always afraid to have more than they needed, so they thought it was enough to eat and wear something according to the Bible. They emphasized two responsibilities when given more than necessary. One was a responsibility to be grateful, the other a responsibility to share.
As God's people, we must learn to use our wealth according to God's will. This is because, when used correctly, not only does it add more, but it is also effective.
1. Why should we handle wealth with care?
The wealth that God speaks of has two great attributes. One is the positive side and the other is the negative side.
What are the positives?
Wealth belongs to God. In other words, since all material worlds are created by God, wealth itself is not evil. Let's look at 1 Chronicles 29:12. “Wealth and honor come from you, and you are sovereign over all, and in your hand is power and might; in your hand is the making and strengthening of all.” And 1 Timothy 4:4 says, “Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.”
Not only that, enjoying wealth and material life is a gift from God. In Deuteronomy 8:18, “Remember the LORD your God! for he has given you the ability to acquire wealth. He did this so that the covenant he swore to your ancestors might be fulfilled as it is today.” Ecclesiastes 5:19 says, “To anyone God has given riches and riches so that they may enjoy it, so that they may receive the division and rejoice in hard work. It is a gift from God.” In other words, all materials are given by God according to the needs of people, and the saints are allowed to enjoy them with gratitude. In particular, He even commanded us to earn honestly for good works. It is Ephesians 4:28. “Let him who steals steal no more, but instead, let him labor and do good with his own hands, that he may have something to give to the needy.”
On this positive side, it emphasizes the need to make it clear who the fundamental owner of wealth is.
What are the negative aspects?
The fundamental attribute of wealth is cleanliness, and it is God-given for the needs of people with a carnal life. However, depending on what kind of attitude and purpose a person has with respect to wealth, it shows dangerous attributes.
The number one negative aspect of wealth is that it has 'ideal attributes'. Deuteronomy 8:13-14 says, "And when your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all your possessions abound, lest your heart become proud and forget the LORD your God... ” and warned against unbelief due to riches, and in Luke 12:15, “Beware of all covetousness! A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Colossians 3:5 says, “… Covetousness is idolatry.” In other words, he warned that riches can take the place of God for man.
Besides, he said that riches become thorns that make people ugly, tyrannical, arrogant, futile, and prevent faith from growing. In the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, Jesus said that the meaning of the thorns is “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches.” In this way, wealth has the magical power to captivate people's hearts.
2. Then, how should the saints handle their wealth?
It is often said that wealth is like ‘water’. Even the same water becomes poison when a viper drinks it, and becomes milk when a cow drinks it. The power of wealth is great. Regardless of the age of the East and the West, attachment to wealth has destroyed humanity and destroyed the life of the spirit. However, in spite of these dangers in the past and now, people are obsessed with riches by any means and methods and are becoming slaves to them. Not long ago, it was revealed that the perpetrators of a serial murder case in the Gyeonggi area of Seoul killed people for only tens of thousands of dollars. You die, you kill, you buy and sell your life for money.
To be able to control the power of such wealth, you must know the owner of it. All you need to do is to believe that God is the creator of the world. Isn't it a very self-evident fact that the God who made the world is the owner of everything in the world? However, because humans do not understand it, God says it. Let's look at Psalm 50:10-12. “For all the beasts of the forest and the livestock of heaven are mine; the birds of the mountain are mine, and the beasts of the field are mine. Even if I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fulness are mine.” And in Haggai 2:8, “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine. saith the LORD of hosts.”
However, it is human beings who are greedy in front of material things, just as a sparrow cannot just pass by a mill, called the succulent spirit (見物生心). So, as God's people, we must be convinced that God is the owner of the material, and we only took care of it while we lived on this earth. In this way, proper management of the material is possible.
In this way, if a Christian has the right attitude toward material things, he or she will be able to fully enjoy spiritual and physical abundance. Because God's grace is given to those who know how to use it rightly and faithfully. John 15:7 refers to this very fact. “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
I pray that all of us can enjoy abundance on this earth and prepare an eternal kingdom by not falling into wealth and using it wisely.
(Gospel Hymn/ Hymn No. 750/ Lost Steward)