"Rich" Christians?

[Dave M]

The Author also said :



Deuteronomy 8:18 ESV
You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
Proverbs 10:4 ESV
A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

Maybe you just didnt chat long enough.

yes this is the old Covenant with Israel from my understanding, they were promised earthly riches for obedience.

Yet when we look at the most most obedient people (the apostles) in the NT, they we

1 Corinthians 4
10. We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored.
11. To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.
12. We work hard with our own hands. When we are vilified, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;
13. when we are slandered, we answer gently. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

I have read the NT this year about 6 times in its entirety I have never come to the conclusion that God wants us to be rich or poor, God wants us to honor with what we have IMO. God is the one who has provided for us what we have in the first place, what we do with it is what is important.

The NT gives warning after warning about desiring to be rich, about the LOVE of money, and all the traps and temptations these things come with. Matter fact Jesus spoke on money and things more then he did on faith and prayers, more then he did on hell and heaven. So it is important that we all make a effort to study it and understand it.

 

[Reba1]

If any one is whinning a bout a Christian being rich and that person has more possessions then the guy living under the bridge they are hypocrites.

 

[Hitch]

yes this is the old Covenant with Israel from my understanding, they were promised earthly riches for obedience.

Yet when we look at the most most obedient people (the apostles) in the NT, they we

1 Corinthians 4
10. We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored.
11. To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.
12. We work hard with our own hands. When we are vilified, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;
13. when we are slandered, we answer gently. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

I have read the NT this year about 6 times in its entirety I have never come to the conclusion that God wants us to be rich or poor, God wants us to honor with what we have IMO. God is the one who has provided for us what we have in the first place, what we do with it is what is important.

The NT gives warning after warning about desiring to be rich, about the LOVE of money, and all the traps and temptations these things come with. Matter fact Jesus spoke on money and things more then he did on faith and prayers, more then he did on hell and heaven. So it is important that we all make a effort to study it and understand it.

yes this is the old Covenant with Israel from my understanding, they were promised earthly riches for obedience.

You seem to be implying something, do you think God has changed ?

The NT gives warning after warning about desiring to be rich, about the LOVE of money, and all the traps and temptations these things come with. Matter fact Jesus spoke on money and things more then he did on faith and prayers, more then he did on hell and heaven. So it is important that we all make a effort to study it and understand it.

Remember the parable of the talents.

 

[Hekuran]

If any one is whinning a bout a Christian being rich and that person has more possessions then the guy living under the bridge they are hypocrites.

I'd like to be there when you tell James to his face that you think he's a hypocrite.

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

 

[Andyindauk]

If any one is whinning a bout a Christian being rich and that person has more possessions then the guy living under the bridge they are hypocrites.

One day we'll all have to give an account of what we've done with the talents or blessings that God has given us. If we invest our 10 talents in a big house, a Range Rover and faring sumptuously whilst brothers and sisters go hungry and succumb to disease and drought, expect a difficult judgement.

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. I John 3:16‭-‬19 NKJV

 

[Hitch]

Interesting how so many folks speaking about 'Godly poverty' have internet subscriptions.

 

[Waggles]

Interesting how so many folks speaking about 'Godly poverty' have internet subscriptions.

Interesting how so many folks speaking about 'Godly wealth' have a love of money.

 

[Hitch]

Interesting how so many folks speaking about 'Godly wealth' have a love of money.

Myself a brother and two sisters were homeless living in church Sunday School rooms when I was born, if that makes you feel any better, me ? Im 66 and still work in construction every day.

 

[Waggles]

Myself a brother and two sisters were homeless living in church Sunday School rooms when I was born, if that makes you feel any better, me ? Im 66 and still work in construction every day.

I am 67 and own neither land nor a house - yet I am content with what God has provided me through the years a roof over my head, food and clothing, employment,.
True riches are to be found in the gospel of salvation - the pearl of great price. This is my treasure; and for that I have forsaken house and land and family and worldly pursuits.
My lifestyle is modest and frugal but I still have the heart and financial capacity to share and to give to others - from animal welfare to our mission fund to local welfare services.
And then there are my adult children who also come to me for monetary help.

It is not a competition about who is poorer than another and more holy - it is about understanding what discipleship to Jesus is about - to deny your life and the world and to follow him.
We certainly have wealthy and rich members of my Pentecostal church. But I find that they tend to focus on themselves and their own lifestyles and going on holidays.
But each to their own - the rich see their wealth as a blessing from God and the "poor" simply pray to God for help with what they need.

 

[Waggles]

Luke 14:12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.
13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

 

[Hitch]

Luke 14:12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.
13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Isnt it terrible that man had enough surplus to offer a banquet ? GASP!

 

[Dave M]

the number 1 rival to God according to scripture is money,

 

[Hitch]

the number 1 rival to God according to scripture is money,

Maybe, but there wasnt t any money in the garden.

 

[Waggles]

Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man.
Proverbs 27:20

 

[Rad]

But what if what you HAVE, isn't "Treasure", but just "possessions"?? God couldn't care less what you HAVE. Its what HAS YOU that concerns Him, and MONEY isn't the root of all evil, the LOVE OF IT is.

OF COURSE your "heart" will be with your "TREASURE". Not necessarily with your "possessions".

It occurred to me some time ago that if my house were to burn to the ground tonight, the only REAL "Loss" (other than convenience) would be photographs of those loved but long dead, and in many cases gone forever. Everything else is just "Stuff". Johnny Cash reached the same conclusion, referring to his success as his "House of Dirt".

Hi Bob, so give me some idea of how you differentiate between your "possessions" and your "Treasure", because it seems to me that you possess them both, and how many possessions do you have to possess before youre rich, because we all know its easier for a Camel to pass through the Eye of a needle than a Rich man/woman enter heaven.

It seems to me that it all comes down to monetary value, for thats the basis of Earthly wealth, so whether you call it "possessions" or "Treasure", the important point is that when you add the up the value of both, does that make you Rich, because if it does then you fall into the category of those condemned by Christ.

 

[Rad]

Did the man who built his house on a rock sin buy not giving his building capital away ?

Hi Hitch, think youll find this refers to the basis on which we build our lives, the Sermon on the Mount has always been for me the "Blueprint" on which to build my Christian life, and the only giving away thats required is our lives in Christs Service

 

[Rad]

Were Job, Abe Dave and Sol condemned ?

No they werent, but i dont get your point, perhaps you could elaborate a little, thanks.

 

[Hitch]

[/QUOTE]

No they werent, but i dont get your point, perhaps you could elaborate a little, thanks.

does that make you Rich, because if it does then you fall into the category of those condemned by Christ.

They were rich.

 

[Rad]

12 So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.

13 He had also seven sons and three daughters.

14 And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch.

15 And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.

16 After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations.

17 So Job died, being old and full of days.

Further speaking of Abe:

The Lord has greatly blessed my master, so that he has become rich; and he has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants, and maids and camels and donkeys.

Issac:

Now Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him, and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy.

Dave;
And, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a million talents of silver, and of bronze and iron without weight . . . (1Chronicles 22:14)

Hi Hitch, yes i see now, youre saying because Christ didnt condemn the Rich in the Old testament, indeed they became Rich with Gods blessing, then how could he condemn ALL Rich people in the New Testament. Well i know its already been said, New times, New Covenant, but theres also the point that God doesnt have to answer to us for what he says and when he says it, if Christ had come to earth as a Rich and wealthy man and condemned the rich and powerful would you have questioned his integrity, even called him a Hypocrite?.
No, it seems to me that if we call ourselves a Christian, a follower of Christ, then we try to obey his commandments and not look for "opt out" clauses" or question his authority,

 

[Hitch]

They were rich.

Hi Hitch, yes i see now, youre saying because Christ didnt condemn the Rich in the Old testament, indeed they became Rich with Gods blessing, then how could he condemn ALL Rich people in the New Testament. Well i know its already been said, New times, New Covenant, but theres also the point that God doesnt have to answer to us for what he says and when he says it, if Christ had come to earth as a Rich and wealthy man and condemned the rich and powerful would you have questioned his integrity, even called him a Hypocrite?.
No, it seems to me that if we call ourselves a Christian, a follower of Christ, then we try to obey his commandments and not look for "opt out" clauses" or question his authority,

You ignore the Scriptures in arrogance , it is you that must answer and you will not .