The allure of riches to bring purpose, fulfillment and satisfaction is ultimately vacuous. Earthly riches never deliver what they promise. But why do we keep striving after them?
In a materialistic culture that is dominated with keeping up trends and spending beyond our means, we need to recalibrate where we look for purpose and meaning when it comes to riches. Money is not the problem, but our affection of it is.
Observations & Conclusions:
- Godless riches will increase when we fear man more than we fear God
- Godless-riches are addictive and will never deliver contentment
- Godless-riches will control you
- Godless-riches will deceive you into thinking they are your legacy
- Chasing Godless-riches will leave you with frustration, affliction and anger
- Godless-riches reveal a “heart–issue”
- Godless-riches are useless in the grave
Application: When Jesus is your treasure…
- God-given-riches are found in the enjoyment of the means, not the ends
- God-given-riches are a gift that are:
1. enjoyed as given from God’s hand
2. accepted as God’s determined reward
3. received with fulfillment in my work - God-given-riches will insulate you from a meaningless life
Do I have “Godless-riches” or “God-given-riches”?
- Is my money governed by a fear of men or a faith in God?
- Am I frequently discontent with my possessions?
- Am I preoccupied with serving and loving money?
- Am I frequently frustrated, afflicted, and angry with decisions about money?
- When I give is it with reservations and conditions?
- Is my work a joy?
- Do I have enough?
- Do I unite my work with God?
- Can you say, “Jesus is my reward!”
- Am I generous by faith with my money?
Matthew 4:8-9
“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Mark 12:14-17
“Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
1 Timothy 6:6-10
“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 a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
Matthew 6:24
“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.”
James 1:9-11
“Now the believer of humble means should take pride in his high position. But the rich person’s pride should be in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow. For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.”
Luke 12:13-15
“Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
Acts 20:35
“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
2 Corinthians 9:6-7
“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
John 4:9-13
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 17:3
“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
1 Timothy 6:18-19
“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.”