28 Jul Gospel and wealth

Luke 18:18-27

¹⁸ And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour your father and mother.’” ²¹ And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” ²² When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ²³ But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. ²⁴ Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁶ Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

Here is a question to start with. Should we or should we not sell all we have in order to follow Jesus? There are two common mistakes in looking at this text. One is to make this text a universal command, and the other is to think that we are automatically exempted from this command. Let me offer you some relieve first. You do not have to sell everything you have and give it to the poor in order to follow Jesus. Breathe. You do not find this commandment elsewhere in all of the Bible. This commandment is specific to this young man. Therefore, it is wrong to universalise this command and tell every Christian that they must sell everything they have in order to follow Jesus. Yet, and this is an important yet, yet I believe that sometime it is very easy for us to fall into the trap of minimizing this text. We assume that because this is only a specific command to this young man, it is not applicable to us. But how do we know? It is clear that Jesus does in fact command this young man to do it. And if he can command it to the young man, why can’t he say the same thing to you and me? It is very possible for Jesus to tell us today to sell everything we have and follow Jesus. Here is the thing about wealth. Many of us are more attached to wealth than we are willing to admit. In fact, I am convinced that all of us like money. Raise your hand if you like money?

I love all of you. I don’t know if it’s reciprocal but I love you. And because I love you, the best thing I can do for you is to preach the word of God faithfully. What you and I need most is not to hear a sermon that tickle our ear but to hear the word of God that has the power to radically transform our lives. This is my hope for tonight. Tonight might be painful but I pray that the word of God will pursue after your heart and set you free from the love of money. I am convinced that more than any other sins, the church of the 21^st Century has tolerated the love of money. This is why @pastorinstyle and @preachersnsneakers gain so much popularity. I wish they would post my picture on their Instagram account for free marketing but obviously I am not rich enough for them to care about me. Today, many preachers preached the kind of sermons that make people use God in order to have more money. They ignored Jesus’ warning to his disciples that it is hard for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. There is a reason why Jesus talks about money more than he talks about any other issue. Not because Jesus love money but because he understands the danger of money.

Tonight, I want to start differently. Rather than jumping straight into the text, I want to spend the next 20 minutes to give you a Biblical history of wealth. Some of you are thinking, “We are going to have a history lesson in church?” I promise you this is going to be good. It will help us clear many misunderstandings we have on what the Bible teaches on wealth. There is a reason why every time you hear a sermon on becoming rich, it is always based on the Old Testament. So we are going to survey what the whole Bible teaches about wealth, starting from the Old Testament and into the New Testament. It’s going to be so much fun. And before I start, let it be known that I ripped this off of David Platt and few others.

Let’s start with Genesis. We know what happened in Genesis 1 to 3. God created the world and everything in the world for his people to enjoy. But then sin entered the world and corrupted God’s creation and his good purposes. And in Genesis chapter 12, God began his world-restoration program by calling out Abraham to begin a nation that would be called the people of God, Israel. Genesis 12:1-3 – Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

This is the beginning of God’s relationship with the people of Israel, which we know as the Old Testament. And one of the recurring promise of the Old Testament is that obedience to God lead to having possessions on earth. It started here with Abraham. God was saying to Abraham to leave where he was and go to the land that God had prepared for him. In the Old Testament, land is everything. Land is wealth. Land is prosperity. The more land you have, the more wealth you have. In these three verses, God promised Abraham not only spiritual blessing but also material blessing. God was going to make Abraham extremely wealthy. So God was saying, “I’m going to bless you with spiritual and material riches so that through you blessings will overflow onto all the families of the earth.” That’s how everything began in Genesis chapter 12. Some of you are thinking, “God is going to make me super rich? I think I like this sermon already.” Just wait. This is just the beginning.

Abraham had a son and his name was Isaac. What happen to Isaac? Did Abraham enjoy all the material possessions and Isaac got nothing? No. Genesis 26:12-14 – ¹² And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, ¹³ and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. ¹⁴ He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him. Isaac was not only rich, but he became very wealthy. Hundredfold blessings. He had so much that the nations around him envied him for his wealth. Then Isaac, had twins, Esau and Jacob. Jacob was the one who inherited the promise of God. Jacob was also blessed with extreme wealth. Then one of Jacob’s son named Joseph became the Prime Minister of Egypt and they ended up living in Egypt, in the land of Goshen. So we can see all throughout Genesis that God’s chosen people was extremely wealthy and have much possessions. Let’s keep going.

In the early part of the book of Exodus, the Israelites became slaves and God delivered them out of slavery. God sent the 10 plagues and brought them out of Egypt into the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And as they were leaving their slavery in Egypt, God commanded them to ask the Egyptians for their gold and silver. And you know what the Egyptians did? They gave their gold and silvers to the Israelites. Isn’t awesome? What a picture. Israelites had been slaves. And now they were leaving their slavery and the Egyptians were like, “Hey take some of my gold. Take some of my silver. In fact, just have it all.” How many of you would love that? You go to your neighbour and ask them to give you their brand new Mercedes and they give it to you straight away. God was prospering the Israelites so that they would be established in the Promised Land when they get there.

And along the way, God gave a massive promise in the book of Deuteronomy. If you grew up in some Charismatic church in Indonesia, you would hear this passage a lot. This passage is huge. And it reaffirms the promise of the Old Testament. Obedience to God lead to having possessions on earth. You can see it a couple of times in this passage, the relationship between the people’s obedience and material prosperity that God would bless them with.

Deuteronomy 28:9-14 – ⁹ The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. ¹⁰ And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. ¹¹ And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, ¹⁴ and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Now, let’s be honest. How many of you like what you see so far? Raise your hand. It’s extremely clear. Obedience to God lead to extreme wealth and prosperity on earth. And this was exactly what God promised Abraham that God would bless Abraham and bless all the families of the earth through Abraham. Now, pay attention to this. What God is doing in the Old Testament is he is establishing a nation in a land that will be a display of God’s glory to all the nations. In fact, it leads to the second part of this truth. In the Old Testament, obedience to God lead to having possessions on earth and God gives possessions to build a place that display his glory among the nations. Do you get that? First it was the Promised Land. Israel will live in this land and Israel will be a display of God’s glory. But then, this is where we fast forward to David and Solomon, and it’s not just about having land. What’s going to be in the middle of the land? A temple. God was saying, “I’m going to give you great wealth so that you can build a majestic temple to display my glory to all the nations around.” And this was exactly what happened.

King David gathered all the wealth and his son Solomon built the temple for God with that wealth. God made David extremely wealthy and God made Solomon even wealthier. In 1 Kings, Solomon took the wealth that he had inherited from his father, David, and he built a temple. It’s not just another building. This was a place where the glory of God would dwell among his people. And when Solomon dedicated the temple to the Lord, he offered 22,000 cows and 120,000 sheep and goats. 22,000 and 120,000. That’s a lot of cows, sheep and goats. This was a mega party. All other nations around Israel would hear of Israel and her prosperity. They would look at Israel and see the glory of God. And that’s exactly what was happening.

Queen of Sheba, a pagan queen, came to visit Solomon and was amazed by what she saw. She had heard about the fame of Solomon and the greatness of the Lord and she decided to come and check it out for herself. And to her surprise, the reality was a lot more magnificent than the rumour. She was overwhelmed by what she saw and she blessed the God of Israel. 1 Kings 10:9 – ⁹ Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness. Here is what we see. Obedience to God lead the people of God to having possessions on earth. God was giving them wealth and possessions as they obeyed him. God was giving them wealth to establish them as a people in a land with a temple that displayed the glory of God to all the nations around them. That was what God was doing all throughout the Old Testament.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking right now. “Yos, this is your best sermon ever. I love it. God is going to make me super rich and I am going to give 10% of my wealth for the church to buy building in the city. Perfect.” While others of you are thinking, “Oh no, Yosi has turned to the dark side. His obsession to make it to @preachersnsneakers has officially turned him to one of those prosperity preachers.” Let me assure you, I did not turn to the dark side. I am simply affirming what the Old Testament shows us in regard to wealth. However, we are no longer living in the Old Testament. And there is a significant shift that happens in the New Testament in regards to wealth. Pay attention to this quote.

“The New Testament carried forward the major principles of the Old Testament with one conspicuous omission. Never, in the New Testament, never was material wealth promised as a guaranteed reward for spiritual obedience. Material reward for piety or for obedience never reappears in Jesus’ teachings. And in fact, it is explicitly contradicted throughout.” – Craig Bloomberg.

This is massive. As we will see, there is a radical shift in the way the New Testament views wealth. When Jesus told his disciples that they cannot serve two masters, he does not give them the option of Jesus and demon. No. Do you know what the option is? Jesus and mammon (money). And there is a reason why Jesus says that “It is difficult for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.” Paul expands on this teaching by telling us that those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and harmful desires that can ruin and destroy their lives. The New Testament gives us a different picture of wealth. In the Old Testament, obedience to God lead to having possessions on earth. In the New Testament, obedience to God lead to abandoning possessions on earth. I know this is not popular but this is the truth. This is the part where you who loved what I said before will start to hate me. There are many churches and Christians today who are still living in the Old Testament principles of wealth. Not only living in it but prefer it. They still see accumulation of wealth as sign of God’s blessing for their obedience and they use their wealth to build their own kingdom. They are practically ignoring the fact that Jesus had come and gave us a New Testament.

In the New Testament, God is no longer in the business of displaying his glory through one nation and one temple. In the New Testament, Jesus says, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” We no longer build one big temple for people to see the glory of God because you and I are the temples of God. We are to carry the glory of God to all nations and make disciples. We do not need bigger building, more possession and wealth. We do not live in the Old Testament. We live in a different covenant, a new covenant. Instead of God giving possessions to build a place to display his glory among the nations, now God is giving possessions to build a people who take his glory to the nations.

This is very different. Now it’s not about a place, it’s about a people. We don’t build building and say, “Come here and see the glory of God.” Instead, we take the wealth that God has given to us and we go to the nations and we say “Here’s the glory of Christ.” We are a people who take our wealth and we abandon them for the sake of taking the glory of Christ to the nations. In the Old Testament, the mode is “Come and see.” In the New Testament, the mode is “Go and tell.” Are you hearing me? God has not blessed us so that we can increase our living standards. God blessed us so that we can give what we have to make the glory of God known to all nations. This is the New Testament view of wealth.

Now let’s get into the text. We will see Jesus unpack the New Testament view of wealth in his conversation with a young man. I am going to split this passage into four parts. The question; the answer; the response; the good news.

Question

Luke 18:18 – ¹⁸ And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Luke tells us that this man is a ruler and he is rich. But other gospel accounts also tell us that this man is young. That is why he is known as a rich young ruler. And not only that, we also find from the story that this man is righteous. He obeys all the law ever since his youth. So if we can list his attributes: leader, young, rich and morally excellent. This man has the total package. He is as good as anyone could be. I am not sure if he is single or not, but if he is, all mom would want him to marry their daughter. Right moms? And not only that, despite having the total package, this man is willing to admit that something is lacking in his life and he came to see Jesus for it. This man’s qualities would put most Christian guys to shame.

This man asks Jesus a question. However, his question is problematic. He asks the question, “What must I DO to inherit eternal life?” This is a genuine question but a wrong question. This man assumes that eternal life is something that can be earned by doing. He approaches Jesus with the religious mentality. Religion says that you must do things in order to be accepted by God. So now he wants Jesus to list out the list of things that he must do to inherit eternal life. This man is ready to pay the cost of eternal life. “How much? Tell me Jesus. What does it cost? I’ll pay for it.”

This man has his life together. He has a good career, a good reputation, a good income, he in on top of the mountain. Yet he is just lacking one more step. One step. That’s it. And he seeks Jesus for that one step. He is expecting Jesus to tell him one great deed that he must do so that God will owe him eternal life. Little did he know, Jesus is about to turn his world upside down. Jesus is going to tell this young man with a perfect resume that he needs far more than one step because he has been on the wrong road all this time.

Answer

Luke 18:19-23 – ¹⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour your father and mother.’” ²¹ And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” ²² When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ²³ But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

First, Jesus asks the man why he called him good. Something that we need to understand about the Jews is that for them “good” is an attribute that only belong to God. You don’t call other people “good.” There is no one good but the Lord. Now, Jesus is not denying that he is good. Jesus is asking this man to think. Jesus is saying, “Do you know what you are saying by calling me good? God alone is good. If you call me good, then I must be God. I cannot just be a teacher. If I am good, then I must be God.”

But what’s shocking is what happen next. Jesus gives the man a to-do list! This is weird. You and I know that there is nothing we can do to inherit eternal life. The gospel is that Jesus came and did what we cannot so that those who believed in him may have eternal life. But here we find Jesus gives the young man a to-do list. Jesus decided to play along in this man “game of good.” “Okay, let’s start with 5 out of the 10 commandments.” He intentionally lists out all the horizontal commandments and none of the vertical. And the man confidently replied, “Ten commandments? Is that all you have? Nail it! I have kept it from my youth. Anything else?” Now, I want to pause and give an applause to this young man. He did what I never could. He honours his father and his mother ever since his youth. If he is alive today, I want to ask him what his secret is. Of course, this man did not keep the law according to Jesus’ standard. Jesus standard is to honour father and mother not only externally but also internally. We fail at both. How many of you ever act dishonourably to your parents? How many of you ever cuss at your parents in your heart? If your hand is not raised, you are breaking the commandment “you shall not lie.” All of us get an F at both. But at least this young man managed to honour his parents and obey the horizontal laws externally.

When Jesus hear his reply, Jesus looks at the man and says, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” This is huge! I already told you that this is not a universal command to all disciples of Christ but now I am going to argue that this command is more applicable to us than we are willing to admit. Let me explain what happen here. With this statement, Jesus is destroying the two assumptions that people have about Christianity. The two wrong assumptions are that Christianity is something that you can do and it is something that you add into your life. Let me show you.

The rich man came to Jesus with the question, “what must I do?” He sees Christianity as something that he can do and something he needs to add to what he already has. Jesus lists out all the horizontal commandments and the man confidently replies that he nails it already. So Jesus gives the man another test. “Okay, since you are that great, I just have one more test. Sell all you have and follow me.” Do you understand what Jesus is doing? Jesus is simply saying, “Great job in obeying the 6^th, 7^th, 8^th, 9^th and 5^th commandment. Just do this one thing and you will be perfect. Obey the 1^st commandment. You shall have no other god before me. I know it’s going to hurt you but I want you to see the monster inside of you. I want you to know what’s killing you. It’s your other god. It’s wealth. So, get rid of your false god and follow me the one true God.”

What Jesus is doing is consistent with what God has been doing ever since the beginning. This is exactly what God did with Abraham. “Abraham, I want you to sacrifice your son, the only son whom you loved to me. I want him. I want your treasure. Give him to me.” What God is saying to Abraham is that God wants the most important thing in Abraham’s life. Isaac! And this is what God is saying to all of us tonight. “What give you delight in life? What drive you in the morning when you wake up? What is in your mind all the time? What is your treasure? What is your dream? Give it to me.” The point is not just money but anything in our life that is more precious than Jesus. Jesus is exposing this young man’s heart and show him that he loves money more than God. Money is his identity. Money is his security. Money is his god. This man assume that he can have both money and Jesus as his god. He sees Christianity as something that he can add to what he already has.

And here Jesus is destroying that assumption. Christianity is not an additional thing you do in life. It is not something that you do on Sunday. Christianity is more like an explosion that destroy everything you have to make something new. Christianity is not a hobby but a revolution. Jesus is not another app you install on your phone. Jesus is a totally brand new Operating System from which you operate. And in order to take hold of Jesus, we must let go of what we hold tight in our fist and take hold of Christ as our treasure. Don’t get trapped in a monkey trap. If you don’t know what’s a monkey trap, it is a cage containing banana with a hole large enough for a monkey’s hand to fit in, but not large enough for a monkey’s fist that is holding the banana to come out. In order for the monkey to get free from trap, the monkey must release the banana that it hold tight in its fist. Jesus is telling this rich man to let go of his riches and take hold of Christ.

And then come what I think is one of the saddest verse in the whole Bible. “But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.” The man chooses his wealth over Jesus. The man was ready to do whatever it takes. Whatever Jesus commanded him to do, he was ready. Except, that one thing. Except, his wealth. “Jesus, you can ask me for anything but don’t touch my wealth.” And Jesus says “Give me your wealth.” And the man fails miserably.

Response

Luke 18:24-26 – ²⁴ Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁶ Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”

Seeing what happened to the rich young man, Jesus turned to his disciples and teach them a lesson. He said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” If it is difficult, then it is still possible. But he does not stop here. He continues with an amazing illustration. “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Jesus is using a humorous illustration to make his point. Camel was the biggest animal in that part of the world. They don’t have elephant. And the eye of a needle is the smallest thing there is. Now imagine the biggest thing in the world trying to get through the smallest thing in the world. What happen? It’s not only difficult, it is impossible. That’s Jesus point. It is impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

And now the disciples are shock. They ask, “If it is impossible for the a rich person to enter the kingdom of God, then who can?” Remember, they are working from the Old Testament assumption that if you are rich, it is because you are favoured by God. The rich young man has what it takes to support the building of the temple and restore Israel to its former glory. And now Jesus is introducing them to a brand new concept of viewing wealth. In the eyes of Jesus, this rich young man’s wealth is not a blessing from God but a barrier to God. What hinder this man from having eternal life is his wealth.

I want to pause here for a bit. We know that verse 27 is coming and because of it we sometime ignore the weight of what Jesus is saying before it. I am convinced that this passage is applicable to many of us. This message is for us. We are the rich young ruler. All of us like money more than we are willing to admit. And here Jesus clearly points us to the danger of wealth. Money is incredibly good but it is incredibly dangerous at the same time. Money has the power to radically change a person. You and I know this. We know people who are nice and kind when they don’t have a lot and suddenly turn into a monster when they become rich.

Timothy Keller gives four reasons why money is spiritually dangerous. One, money is a huge temptation to be dishonest. Just think about it. If you make few hundred dollars, dishonesty will give you few hundreds more. But if you make hundreds of thousands, dishonesty will give hundreds of thousands more. The more money you make, the more money you can make through dishonesty. And it is fact that the more successful you are, the more pressure there is to be dishonest. Right business people? Two, money makes you an addict. It is a fact that the more you make, the smaller percentage you give away. I was talking with a friend a while back. And he said, “When I make few thousand dollars a month, it is easy for me to give tithes. But now that I am making tens of thousands a month, I can’t just give few thousand to the church every month. It’s too much.” The fact is, you get richer yet you feel poorer than before. Three, money gives you false security. When you have lots of money in the bank, you feel secure. Money makes you feel like you are ready for everything that will happen in the future. But when life hits you in the face, when tragedy happens, what sustains you is not money but character, joy and faith. But you are too busy making money to develop what really matter in life. Four, money can make you proud. Isn’t true that if you are good at making money, you start to think that you are good at everything? You might not know anything about politics or the church but you feel like you have something to say because your wallet is full. Money makes you feel self-sufficient. This is the problem with the rich young ruler. He wants to buy his way into eternal life because his wallet is full. But that is not how you enter the kingdom of God. It is impossible for you to do it on your own.

Good news

Luke 18:27 – ²⁷ But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

This is the greatest news in the universe. What is impossible with man is possible with God. Jesus is showing his disciples that there is nothing they can do to have eternal life. Eternal life is only possible by the work of God alone. It is by not by works but by grace of God alone. This is the reason Jesus came. Jesus is the true rich young ruler. Jesus is the richest man in the universe. He owns the universe. He is far richer than the riches man alive and he leaves behind all he has to pursue us. Jesus lives in poverty for many years. And he not only leaves behind all his wealth, he gives his blood for us. All of us deserved wrath and eternal separation from God because of our sins but Jesus’s blood is spilled so that we may receive full forgiveness from sins. All it took to make the impossible possible is for us to put our faith in Christ. That’s it. The good news of the gospel is that Christ has done what is impossible with man so that we can receive eternal life by trusting him.

2 Corinthians 8:9 – For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. This is the gospel! My friend, you might not think you are rich. You might not feel rich. But let me tell you. You are extremely rich. You are the heirs of the created world. The riches of Bill Gate and Warren Buffet combined are nothing in comparison to what you already have in Jesus. At the cross, Jesus purchased for you riches that will last forever. This is what the gospel gives us. The gospel demands more than we thought but the gospel gives more than we hope. The gospel demands all of our temporary wealth but the gospel gives us the true everlasting wealth.

The question now is, “What should we do with our wealth?” Let me close with this. I know your objection. You are saying right now, “But Yos, I am not that rich. I am not that rich young ruler.” The thing about richness is that those who are rich never feel that they are rich. In fact, you don’t have to be rich to be like this young man. If you desire to be rich, you are already in trouble. So here is what I am saying. I am not telling all of you to sell all you have and give it to the poor. But I am saying that it is very possible that your god is money and God is telling you to give your wealth to him. If Jesus can command this rich young man to do so, he can also command you to do the same. Another question is, “Is it wrong to make lots of money?” Of course not. Some of you are gifted in making tons of money. Go and make as much money as possible and use it to spread the gospel and the glory of God to the nations. That’s a New Testament concept of wealth. Don’t invest your wealth in this passing world but the coming world. Make the right investment! The New Testament also promises us that obedience to God today leads to wealth in the future kingdom of God. Christians can abandon wealth here and now because we are guaranteed rewards in the eternal life. A day is coming where we will enjoy God’s glory and riches with the nations and this is what we’re living for.

One illustration and I am back to my seat. Let’s say you are from other country and you come over to Australia for a month. And you’re living in a hotel room here. And the rule is, during this one month, you can make as much money as you can, but when you get on that plane at the end of the month to go back to your country, you can take absolutely nothing on that plane with you. You can take no money and no possessions with you. However, there is one trick. As you make all the money you want, you can deposit and transfer the money to the bank in your country. So you got a month here and let’s say you are making a million dollars per day. What are you going to do? Are you going to spent it all to buy new apartments, cars, sneakers and gadgets? Absolutely not. That would be the most foolish of things you could do. Instead, you are going to make as much money as you can and you’re going to make sure that before you get on that plane, it’s all in the bank in your country.

One final question and I am done. Are we living like it?

Discussions:

1. In your own words, what is the difference between the Old Testament and New Testament view of wealth.
2. Explain what is wrong with the rich young ruler’s perspective on eternal life.
3. “Christianity is more like an explosion that destroy everything you have to make something new.” Give examples of this in your life.
4. Read Luke 18:24-25. What does Jesus mean in these two verses?
5. Timothy Keller lists 4 spiritual dangers of money. Which one do you associate the most with?
6. “The gospel demands more than we thought but the gospel gives more than we hope. The gospel demands all of our temporary wealth but the gospel gives us the true everlasting wealth.” What does it teach us about following Jesus?
7. What is wise investment? Can you give some practical daily life examples.