A side note on Striving for the Kingdom

A couple of side notes that I wanted to incorporate into my post on Striving for the Kingdom but could not find a place to put without distracting and rabbit trailing from the main point were:

1. Notice that Jesus did not ask for the man to give all of his wealth to His ministry. So the point was not about the man “giving the money and receiving the blessing of God in return” but of submission to the will of God. Think about it: this man let his possessions get in the way of following and possibly becoming another disciple of Christ. He chose his wealth over the chance to follow the Messiah, the Holy One, the most anticipated Person in all of history! How often I wish that I could have had the opportunity to meet Jesus, much less have the opportunity to follow Him, and he chose his money! Talk about a bad choice!
2. Just as Christ didn’t ask the man to give all his wealth to His ministry but to the poor, neither should other true teachers of the gospel.

My article on Striving for the Kingdom was meant to address the continued emphasis I keep seeing coming up in the church on the pursuit of wealth or “blessings”. Another problem that usually accompanies this overemphasis and often outright distortion when it comes to God’s promises: the guilt and/or false promises these “teachers” put on their listeners. Example: “If you’ll just give me $100, then God will bless you with $1,000.” or “God is calling givers right now. I sense that God is calling 50 people to give $10,000 and in return God has a blessing in store for you that you’ll not be able to contain. Pressed down, shaken together, and running over.”

It infuriates me to hear men say “God says” when they know very well in their heart that God has not spoken such words.

Even more disgusting than those who promise wealth are those who promise healing or other divine aid in exchange for money. Charlatans!  Wolves!  It’s time for the church, especially the charismatic believers, to call these false teachers out and denounce them instead of embracing them as they currently are and allowing them to push their poisons onto the flock.

Of such men the Scripture says:

“But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.” (2 Peter 2:1-3) (and that’s just the beginning of what 2 Peter 2 has to say of false teachers; I encourage the interested to read the rest of the chapter)

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Striving for the Kingdom

Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”

“Which ones?” the man inquired.

Jesus replied, “ ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man 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 a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:16-24

From the above passage, here are a couple of points about the man that are worthy of review:

1. The man who approached Jesus by his own words was a devout man who kept the commands of God.
2. Wealth in that day and time (and still by many today) was viewed as the blessing of God and approval from Him on a person’s life.
3. Despite being wealthy and devout, the man still felt like he was lacking something in the sight of God, which is why he approached Jesus, to find out what that something was.

Jesus tells him to sell everything and give it to the poor and to follow Him. Wow. Now that takes some courage. For me this is a reminder not to get too attached to anything in this world but to always have the spirit that says, “it’s yours anyway, God, and I’ll do whatever You want me to do with it.” This isn’t always easy to do, but this is the attitude that God wishes us to have: the attitude of total submission.

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Mark 8:36, 37

Some people get distracted in the pursuit of “prosperity” and the pursuit of earthly things. It saddens me when I hear those who bear the name “Christian” to forget Christ’s words this way and advocate that God’s will is found in prosperity. It is true that it often does delight God to bless us. But the path of blessing and prosperity is not always the path that He has for us.

“Looking at his disciples, he said:

‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.” Luke 6:20-26

People who preach prosperity tend to forget and leave out the places in the Bible that say that as followers of Christ we may very well see tough times. As a matter of fact, I would say that true followers of Christ will face difficulty and hardships, some more than others, and it is in these times, when we should cling to our faith, when we should cling to Christ.

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

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