Jesus Was Rich!

“Don’t waste your time saving up and collecting a lot of wealth. On the earth moths devour priceless clothes, rust tarnishes expensive metal, and thieves break into your homes and steal what you have! Instead, save up your wealth in heaven where your clothes are moth-proof, and your expensive metals can’t rust, and there certainly aren’t any thieves that will steal from you! Your thoughts will be wherever your wealth is.

“The eye is the source of light for the entire body. So if you keep your eyes focused on good things, then your whole body will be filled with goodness! But if you keep your eyes focused on evil things, then your whole body will be filled with evil! I mean, if bad things result from your attempts to do good, then how much worse will the result be when you set out to do what you know is wrong?

“No one is able to serve two masters because he will eventually come to hate the one and love the other. He’ll be loyal to one and he’ll despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth!

~ As Matthew Tells It
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TheNewPeaceTreaty.html

Jesus was a rich man, but Jesus was not wealthy! Yet, even though Jesus was not wealthy, He most certainly was not poor. To be poor is to be lacking in something that is crucial for survival -- that is what the Greek word πτωχός -- ptochos -- means. Jesus was not a wealthy man, but I cannot conceive of Jesus as “lowly,” or “afflicted,” or “destitute”; I cannot conceive of Jesus being “helpless,” “powerless,” or “needy.” So although Jesus was lacking in wealth, He was lacking in nothing.

Jesus was not wealthy; yet, Jesus was not poor! Jesus was rich! Jesus was powerful! Jesus was influential! Yet, Jesus did not have one penny to spend on Himself. Jesus did not have a house to call His home. Yet, Jesus was rich!

Jesus tells us that there are three reasons why people fall away from the Gospel:

1) Some people hear the Gospel, but are unable to fully grasp it. So the devil rushes to them and takes away from them what little they were able to grasp.

2) Some people hear the Gospel and are happy because they get it. Nevertheless, their understanding is superficial and their happiness quickly evaporates. Sooner or later their new understanding is going to get them into tough spots and they’ll be picked on for what they believe. When this happens they get discouraged and even hostile to God, and anything that had sprouted within them dies.

3) Some people hear the Gospel, but they can’t stop worrying about worldly matters, or stop being obsessed with money. Their materialistic concerns choke and kill whatever has sprouted within them.

Wealth can rob me of my faith -- wealth, according to Jesus, can choke the faith right out of me. I may be wealthy and have faith, but my faith in God is always in competition with my faith in wealth. It is a constant tug of war, but ultimately I will have to make a choice: “What will I trust in for my security -- God or wealth?” Because Jesus declares that it cannot be both?

So since wealth can rob me of my faith, and since the more I have, the more I am worried about what I have, and the more I am afraid to lose what I have, Jesus tells me that I am not to spend my time trying to get rich -- at least, not rich in material things. If I am to be rich, I should spend my time trying to get rich in heavenly things.

That sounds sweet and super-pious, and all of us, regardless of how greedy we may have been or are in our lives have mouthed these words of Jesus to ourselves and to others only to fall back to worrying about bills and wanting the newest, shiny toy or thing. Because let’s face it, we live in a world that constantly tells us that we are what we have -- so we have to chase after the best, so that we will be the best. The problem is the best keeps changing, so we have to keep buying and acquiring and changing too. The problem is that there are thieves who will take what we have, so we have to spend our time and our energy protecting what we have from those who want to take it from us. The problem is that those things also fall apart -- moths are not just for clothing any more. Everything that is made now is designed to break so that we have to buy it again and again. “Moths” are now a design feature. And even if things were designed to last for years, time kills all things in the end, so the goods “tarnish” and “rust.” So we spend our lives constantly chasing the new, best thing so that we can prove to ourselves and to others that we have worth, and while we are doing that, we are spending what little time and energy we have left trying to make sure others do not take our symbols of status and worth from us, while constantly replacing them with newer versions because they fall apart and break, or just become out of date.

An alcoholic cannot have a drink without wanting more. Once the alcoholic drinks, he loses his ability to say no to a drink. He eventually gets to the point where he cannot enjoy the drink he is drinking because he is worried about getting the next drink he is going to drink. The only solution the alcoholic has is not to drink in the first place. Wealth is a drug -- it is the drug of choice for most people in most places throughout most of history. Most people are unable to have a taste of wealth without wanting more. Most people begin to lose their ability to stop chasing wealth once they start, eventually getting to the point where they do not enjoy the wealth they have because they are so worried about acquiring the wealth they want or tell themselves that they need. Dependence on wealth is an illness, just as dependence on alcohol and drugs is an illness. It is an addiction that when left untreated causes misery and suffering " because the love of money is the root of all that is evil.

Also, for the alcoholic, alcohol becomes the center of his life. Where others see a “drinking problem,” the problem for the alcoholic is that it is in reality a “drinking solution” -- alcohol becomes the solution to all his problems, so no matter what happens, he runs to the bottle for help. Most people seem to have a “wealth solution.” They believe that if they have enough wealth, then all their problems will disappear, and when they find they still have problems, they decide that they need more wealth. Wealth becomes the center of their lives, just as alcohol becomes the center of the alcoholic’s life. ANYTHING THAT I PLACE IN THE CENTER OF MY LIFE, REGARDLESS OF WHAT I MAY CALL IT OR THINK ABOUT IT, IS MY GOD.

So in what am I going to place my trust for my security? Will I trust my security to wealth and things, which are going in and out of style, or can be stolen, or that fall apart, or that wear out, or that rust or is tarnished or loses its luster, or will I trust my security to God, who has always been, and who always will be, who has never gone out of style? There are only two paths here: either I choose wealth and store up treasures on earth, or I choose God and store up treasures in heaven.

Jesus chose God. Jesus chose God to the point that he gave up all other things. Jesus chose to be rich in heavenly things to the point of being poor in wealth; yet, Jesus’ lack of wealth did not make Him poor. He lacked nothing. For all of Jesus’ material “poverty” he never seemed to be going hungry, he always found a place to stay, he was not languishing with illness, he was not miserable, he was never needy. Jesus lacked nothing he needed; therefore, Jesus was rich!

So the question for me is: “How was Jesus rich, and is that how I want to be rich?” If I do in fact want to be “Jesus rich,” then the first thing I have to do is look at my life and find out what my life is built around. What have I placed in the center of my life? I know I say God is the center of my life, but is that really true? What competition does God have? Do I sacrifice God for other things, or do I sacrifice other things for God? Will I give up all of my wealth for God, or will I give up God for wealth? Can I be content being rich in heavenly things and being poor in earthly things? Does my status and sense of worth come from the things I have, or does it come from the relationship I have with God?

So how do I become rich like Jesus? Someone told me a long time ago, that if I wanted to be a wealthy man, find a wealthy person and do what he does. If I want to be rich like Jesus, then I have to do what Jesus does -- place God at the center of my life to exclusion of all else. This does not mean that I may not have things, but it does mean that I am not attached to those things. They are tools to be used to serve God.

Storing up treasures in heaven is not simply doing “good deeds” which is how it is often presented. It is about using all that we are and all that we have to serve heaven. All that I am and all that I have is a gift from God. Do I have the courage to give it all back to God? Can I honestly and sincerely say to God, “You have given me all that I have and all that I am, and I give it all back to you. I give you everything I have and everything that I am. I give you my whole life and I give you all the things I use to define my life. Take it all away if it is your will; let me keep them if it is your will; disperse it back to me as an “allowance” if it is your will.”?

Storing up treasure in heaven is about using what I have in service to God " all of what I have, not just ten percent. It is about using all that I am -- my education, my smarts, my humor, my compassion, my skills, my talents, my writing, my speaking, my everything in the service of God. If that means not having what others have, then so be it; because they do not have what I have " a lasting wealth that cannot be stolen or taken away, and that will never go out of style or tarnish.

I am not talking about going to heaven. I am talking about living in the here and now. Treasures in earth fill my life with worry and anxiety and regret and hostility; treasures in heaven fill my life with peace.

The eye is the source of light in the body. I take this to mean “Your focus determines your reality.” If I focus on good things -- treasures in heaven things " then my life will be filled with good things, not just material things, but good things. Jesus is the light of the world, so if I focus on Jesus, then I am filled with light. But if I focus on wealth and cares and worries, then I am filled with anxiety.

And just in case I missed the point, Jesus makes it painfully clear: I cannot serve God and wealth. I am going to come to love the one and hate the other. I am going to come to love God and hate wealth, or I am going to come to love wealth and hate God. And it is not “hatred” in the sense of that angry, aggressive feeling of despising -- although it can come to that. It is more the true hatred which is the opposite of love -- indifference. I will either comes to ignore God and love money, or ignore money and love God; I will either become indifferent to God and love wealth, or I will become indifferent to wealth and love God.

When I seek to store up treasures on earth, I begin to love things and use people. When I seek treasures in heaven, I begin to love people and use things. If I seek to store up treasures on earth, I may become a billionaire, but I may also be poor in heavenly things. If I seek to store up treasures in heaven, I may be poor in earthly things, but I may be a billionaire in the kingdom of God -- and the kingdom of God is not going anywhere, but the earth and the things of the earth are passing away.

The only things I really need in this world and in the next are God’s love, God’s grace, and God’s forgiveness. If I have these things I am a rich man. If I am a rich man, then I have more than enough and can share it with others. God’s love, God’s grace, God’s forgiveness are my treasures in heaven. If I am rich in those things, I will share them with others. Because if I want to be rich, I have to do what a rich man does -- and Jesus was rich, so if I want to be rich like Jesus, I have to do what Jesus did.