On the Road to Jerusalem: Rich Towards God

“So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”—Luke 12:21

We are the richest nation in the world. We have amenities that other nations could only dream of. As a matter of fact, one missionary defines wealth as “the ability to choose.” If we have the ability to choose where we go, what we eat, and where we live, then we are wealthy. We may not be Bill Gates wealthy, but we are wealthy by the rest of the world’s standards. We need not apologize for our wealth, however, but we must learn to be good stewards of it and use our wealth for the furtherance of Christ’s kingdom. We must honor God first, before everything else.

A great tool to assess how important wealth and possessions are to us; is to ask how central things are to controlling our joy. If something or someone controls your joy, then it is an idol. Our joy must be rooted in Christ and what He has done. Everything else must be secondary. Whenever we find our joy in Christ, everything else falls into place—relationships, money, possessions, etc. It is only when Christ is our supreme joy that we can see how horrendous it is to give so little to God.

I have a family member who grew up in church, but is now far away from God. One holiday, we were conversing about God when the subject of money came up. He was raised in a home that emphasized outward conformity to God’s Word, without inward integrity. He was taught that following God meant cutting his hair, listening to a certain kind of music, and giving money to the church. But, he never learned why he was supposed to do it. The end result? Legalism and rebellion. One finds that the two go hand in hand. When legalism, or the extra rules built around Scripture, are emphasized along with outward conformity to them, one will quickly find that rebellion is not too far away—which is exactly what happened to him. Nevertheless, as we conversed about God and finances he said, “I was always told it’s God’s money, but it’s not God’s money. It’s my money, I earned it.” I didn’t quite know how to respond to his words, until a few days later. I came to the conclusion he was told it was God’s money, but he was not taught why. Was it his money? Did he earn it? Yes. Then how was it God’s? It is God’s because God gave him the ability to earn it. As it says in Deuteronomy 8:18, “You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.” Through God’s words to the nation of Israel we can see that God gives us the ability to have and make wealth. The very fact that we have the physical ability to do our job is a gift from Him. We didn’t make ourselves, we didn’t fashion our hands to do, or mind to think in such a way as to accomplish the task for which we receive a paycheck. God did that. We are simply stewards.

The parable from which our verse today comes, is about a man who tore down his barns in order to build larger ones, where he could store his grain and goods. He thought that he would have many years to relax, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” What was Jesus’ point? This world is passing away and each of us is destined to die once and then face judgment (1 John 2:17; Hebrews 9:27). We must not try and build earthly kingdoms, “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal”—Matthew 6:20.

Be rich toward God—reconsider your priorities and possessions. Maybe you need to downsize, simplify your life, ask God to give you direction. Do whatever you need to do in order to put God first in your wealth. He deserves it. He has given us money for us to be stewards over—let’s use it for His glory and the furtherance of His kingdom. Amen.