DON'T VALUE MONEY MORE THAN CHRIST

PROCLAMATION

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich 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 rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ ”  Matthew 19:23-24 (NIV)

EXPLANATION

These words are from the gospel, the good news regarding Jesus, The Christ, which were spoken by Christ according to the Apostle Matthew.  After speaking in parables to the crowd in Capernaum regarding Causing One to Stumble (Matthew 18:6-9), the Wandering Sheep (Matthew 18:10-14), Dealing With Sin in The Church (Matthew 18:15-20), and the Unmerciful Servant (Matthew 18:21-35), Jesus left Galilee and went into Judea, on the other side of the Jordan River.  A great multitude followed Him, and He healed all the sick among them. (Matthew 19:1-2)  Some Pharisees also followed Him, but they wanted to test Him.  They asked Him a question regarding the lawfulness of divorce for any and every reason. (Matthew 19:3)  Jesus explained that divorce was not part of God’s original plan.  Moses permitted them to divorce because the hardness of their hearts.  Divorce is only acceptable in the case of sexual immorality. (Matthew 19:4-9)  In response to a rich young man who wanted to know what he must do to get eternal life, Jesus told him to keep the commandments.  He replied that he had kept the commandments and wanted to know what else he should do. (Matthew 19:16-20)  Jesus told him to sell all of his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor then follow Him.  The young man went away sad because he had great wealth.  That was when Jesus, The Christ, said that it would be difficult for a rich man to enter heaven.

APPLICATION

There is nothing wrong with being rich or wealthy.  Poverty is not a requirement for becoming a Christian.  The problem is that the rich tend to rely on their money to solve their problems and they cannot buy salvation.  They value their money and their possessions more than they value having a relationship with The Lord God.  They put their trust in their money rather than in God.  Nothing in our lives should be more important to us than The Lord God.  We need to put God first in our lives.  We need to acknowledge Him in all that we do. (Proverbs 3:6)  The love of money is the root of all evil. (1 Timothy 6:10)

THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES WITH THE CHOICES THAT WE MAKE

Proclamation:

“There was a rich man … At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus … The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side.  The rich man also died and was buried.  In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.  So he called to him … ‘send Lazarus … because I am in agony’ … ‘Then I beg you … send Lazarus to my family … let him warn them’ … He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”  Luke 16:19-31 (NIV)

Explanation:

These are the words of Jesus, The Christ, as recorded by Luke, the physician, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  In this chapter Luke records the parable of the shrewd manager (Luke 16:1-13) which Jesus told His disciples, in addition to His words to the covetous Pharisees (Luke 16:14-17) and His words on divorce. (Luke 16:18)  Then Jesus presents the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. (Luke 16:19-31)  Both of the parables deal with the unwise choices that men make.  The shrewd manager was dishonest and then made “self-preservation” deals with his master’s debtors and proved that he was not trustworthy.  The rich man had plenty of everything, during his life, but did not share any with the poor man outside of his gate.  In death the rich man suffered and became a beggar, begging for water and then begging to help his five brothers.

Application:

There are two very important lessons here.  The first is that we cannot serve The Lord God and love Him, and also serve and love money at the same time. (Luke 16:13)  If we follow the first rule of the world, self-preservation, and let the love of money rule us, then we will find ourselves wrapped up in evil. (1 Timothy 6:10)  The second point is that if we are too hard-hearted to share with the less fortunate, The Lord God will not be pleased.   Christ said that as we did, or did not do, to the less fortunate people, we did it, or did not do it, to Him. (Matthew 25:35-45)  We are blessed in order to be a blessing to others, and we will be blessed for being a blessing to others. (Proverbs 11:25)  We are also to share The Word of God with others.  However, not all of the people will believe The Bible or that Jesus, The Christ, was raised from the dead; but some will believe and confess. (Romans 10:9)