Monday: Filling the Barns
Read Luke 12:15-21. What’s the message to us here? How might the principle here apply even to someone who is not necessarily rich?
Whether we are rich or poor, our desire to own things can take our mind off what really matters and focus it, instead, on what’s only temporal and fleeting and certainly not worth the loss of eternal life.
Image © Krieg Barrie from GoodSalt.com
We would probably never bow down to a literal statue of gold or silver and worship it today. Nevertheless, we can still be in danger of worshiping gold and silver, just in another form.
This parable is so applicable in many parts of the world, where life is dedicated almost exclusively to acquiring possessions. Retailers have turned the hawking of their products into an art form on a global scale. Their whole marketing strategy is built on making us think that we can’t be happy or satisfied until we own what they are selling. One very successful company created a product, made us think we needed it, and then sold it to us. And the truth is: it worked! Even Christians, whose hope is not of this world, are not safe from this deception.
Read Deuteronomy 8:10-14. In what ways can any church member be in danger from the threat warned about here?
| What examples can you find, either in the Bible or our world today, in which the accumulation of wealth and material possessions increased a person’s spirituality, love of God, and desire for heavenly and spiritual things? Please share your answer with the class. |
(51)
I would like to suggest the life of Job that regardless of his riches God said of him to satan "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?" Job 1:8. It is important to mention that Job heart was subdued by the Holy Spirit, because without Christ we can not posses a good heart. May the Lord bless us with his Holy Spirit. Amen
Esther Moran
One is most vulnerable when life is good. The warning here is that we be vigilant, always guarded just so as not to lose focus on Christ. Sharing His love and blessings in practical ways is a great way to steer clear of the temptation to be selfish and covetous.
Abraham was very well to do with material goods and a man of God. Yet he lost sight of trusting fully in God more than once in his life. King Saul also trusted God at first and eventually lost sight of God altogether. King David also had all he desired including riches and fame and also lost sight of trusting God at times and even did evil in Gods' sight at times. King Solomon had riches and wisdom and almost lost his soul to the devil.
Joseph and Ruth are also examples of persons who did not allow the gains they acquired to derail their focus on Christ. After being sold as a slave at age 18, Joseph made it to the ranks of leadership in Potiphar's house. However, he gave this up when he chose not to slept with is boss's wife, risking death as he recognized that the abundance of his life was not in social status and material wealth he acquired in his master's house. Needless to say, Joseph was restored ten fold when appointed the King of Egypt's right hand man, not just in charge of the household of a well-to-do socialite.
Ruth cared for mother-in-law which involved choosing to live a life of poverty and uncertainty rather than returning to her own people when her (Ruth's) husband died. Through her "attitude, conversion, commitment and self-discipline" per the lesson's introduction, she remarried Boaz and lived a comfortable life. Added, to this she was privileged, elevated to the ultimate social status, in being one of four women to be identified by Matthew in Christ's lineage. Not bad for a poor, widowed women gathering leftovers in the field.
At times the intentions start well, all we want is to be comfortable financially and not live from month to month but be able to have savings but then the devil enters and everything is not as it was meant to be.
In Matthew 25:14-30 we are given the parable of the three servants. The master gave to one servant 5 bags of money, to another 2 bags of money and to a third he gave 1 bag of money. Each of the servants decided what to do with these funds while he was away.
The first 2 servants increased their funds and were rewarded by the master, but the third servant who had done nothing but hide it and keep it safe, was thrown out. The third servant may have expected praise for not spending it and so being able to return it to his master, but the master expected greater things from him even though he had been given the least amount.
And so it is with our God today- to some He has given much, but much is expected and to others little but there is still a work they can do to return an increase on what has been given.
We will all be held accountable for what we have been given and if the only increase we have made is in material things, we will lose out on eternal life, but if we have used our funds for God's work, kept our eye on the Lord and His gifts, and shown care, compassion and responsibility we will be rewarded accordingly.
Let us not criticise those who have wealth but focus on doing what what God expects of us according to what He has given us.
Pentecostal times teach us how we can use money , influences and power
for the kingdom of heaven wisely.
Jesus center his comments in that direction. Everything we do with this purpose is take it and put on record in the heavenly books of heaven. Our words of faith, our act of love, are registered in heaven in the book of remembrace.
The text in Luke 12:15 Jesus issues a warning. Beware of covetousness. Even though it is one of the ten thou shalt not's, Jesus reinforces the need to resist the possibility of wanting more than is adequate. The parable that follows is the story of a rich man that wanted more, and that night he was dead. Jesus' caution, demonstrates what in life that is the most important, now and forever. As noted in the lesson, "Materialism" occupies the majority of our society. What a sad, sad, commentary. A prayer for help from the Holy Spirit should be more than welcome to each of us on a daily basis.