How Are We To Express Our Thankfulness To God For the Blessings We Have Received?
Good Morning Friends,
Sometimes wealth can be an attractive nuisance and prompt those that envy gold and silver to violence. That is what happened in the time of Ezekiel and the exile. Perhaps Jesus was thinking of this when he tells his disciples that it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Wealth and money can be as double-edged swords if we think they imply righteousness. So perhaps there is a warning here for elevating our sacrificial gifts to the status of a pass into heaven. You see, there is an awkwardness when it comes to money and God and our heart and pride. So, How Are We To Express Our Thankfulness To God For the Blessings We Have Received?
Scripture: The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, say to the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord God: Because your heart is proud and you have said, “I am a god; I sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas,” yet you are but a mortal, and no god, though you compare your mind with the mind of a god. You are indeed wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you; by your wisdom and your understanding you have amassed wealth for yourself, and have gathered gold and silver into your treasuries. By your great wisdom in trade you have increased your wealth, and your heart has become proud in your wealth. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you compare your mind with the mind of a god, therefore, I will bring strangers against you, the most terrible of the nations; they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor. They shall thrust you down to the Pit, and you shall die a violent death in the heart of the seas. Will you still say, “I am a god,” in the presence of those who kill you, though you are but a mortal, and no god, in the hands of those who wound you? You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of foreigners; for I have spoken, says the Lord God.
Ezekiel 28:1-10 (NRSV)
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, “Then who can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” Then Peter said in reply, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.
Matthew 19:23-30 (NRSV)
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
John 12:8 (NRSV)
Message: We Christians can be a generous people and great contributors to charities but still a third of the world goes to bed hungry every night, and a third of the world is without proper medical care, a third of the world is thirsty for clean water and millions upon millions need to be freed from tyranny. People everywhere need God. Top of FormBottom of FormToday in America we are considered some of the wealthiest people on the planet. Still there are more millionaires in China than our entire population. That does not mean that all the people have great fortunes but rather that more people each year around the world are developing a better standard of living. But in contrast to all that we have collectively, most Christians are still lacking the passion it requires to share the Gospel with others. We want to keep our wealthy standard of living while others in the world struggle to survive spiritually. Missions take money to implement and the thing is that we do not have to go very far in Southwest Florida to see the dynamics of wealth in places like Naples and poverty in places like Immokalee and spiritual development and financial sacrifice in places like Ave Maria. So, a lot of our world is financially poor…a lot of our world is spiritually impoverished…a lot of our world has great wealth and in the experience of this there are examples of love and sacrificial giving that I think honor God but come with a warning that the key is to have a changed heart not just a changed pocketbook. You see, poverty does not mean godliness and wealth does not mean alienation from God. Jesus was not teaching that the way to get to heaven is to live a life of poverty in this world. Scripture is clear that salvation is by grace through faith, not of works. This really is not news to us. Jesus himself told us that we will always have the poor until he returns in glory to set up his kingdom. But until then there is work we must do. People of wealth are responsible for re-circulation their money back into society where it can be used to support the greater good. Here Earthly financial rank will not automatically translate into an inverse heavenly rank. Something else is at play here and it involves the heart. Scripture is clear that salvation is by grace through faith, not of works and therefore is independent of one’s financial status. Also, Jesus was not teaching an automatic reversal of roles in heaven. There is no heavenly law wherein the poor and oppressed must rule over the rich and powerful. The rich are not always the last in heaven, and the poor are not always the first. Nor will believers who enjoy wealth and prestige on earth be required to somehow be abased in heaven. Jesus made the statement “many who are first will be last, and who are last will be first” in the context of His encounter with the the rich young ruler and in connection with the end of the parable of the laborers in the vineyard too. The message here is about the interrelationship between the poor, the wealthy and the spiritual generous. So, friends, sometimes in life we will invest for a financial return and sometimes donating it for a social return, but the best way is to invest it for a spiritual return to glorify not ourselves but God. Like the rich young ruler, we too need to examine our conscience. We need to look within ourselves and ask if we have left something undone in our acts of Christian charity. The answer to that question will be different for all of us for we do not all share the same financial means. Yet we all share the same call to fulfill the Great Commission and that might be done closer to home than many first think.
Pray we have a generous heart and spirit. Pray we are thankful we have been blessed to be a blessing. Pray we strive for a perfect love and truly believe that our sacrificial gifts will produce a return that glorifies God. Pray we meet the challenge of the Great Commission for the poor and the lost. Pray we demonstrate our thankfulness through our generous acts. Pray we realize that Christ like love is giving to the needs of others as it relates to their spiritual transformation. Pray we believe in the promises and possibilities of God. Pray we walk in the possibilities of the Holy Spirit. Pray our gifts are multiplied for God’s glory not our own. Pray we are truly thankful for the life we have been given and demonstrate it. Pray we are all in when it comes to our walk with Jesus.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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