Seeking Riches

[RickyZ]

Job 31:24-28 If I have put my confidence in gold, And called fine gold my trust, If I have gloated because my wealth was great, And because my hand had secured so much; If I have looked at the sun when it shone or the moon going in splendor, And my heart became secretly enticed, And my hand threw a kiss from my mouth, That too would have been an iniquity calling for judgment, For I would have denied God above.

Psalm 52:6-7 The righteous will see and fear, And will laugh at him, saying, "Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge, But trusted in the abundance of his riches And was strong in his evil desire."

Proverbs 11:28 He who trusts in his riches will fall, But the righteous will flourish like the green leaf.

Jeremiah 49:4 How boastful you are about the valleys! Your valley is flowing away, O backsliding daughter who trusts in her treasures, saying, 'Who will come against me?'

Ezekiel 28:5  By your great wisdom, by your trade You have increased your riches And your heart is lifted up because of your riches

Psalm 62:10 Do not trust in oppression and do not vainly hope in robbery; If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.

Proverbs 18:23 The poor man utters supplications, But the rich man answers roughly.

Proverbs 28:11 The rich man is wise in his own eyes, But the poor who has understanding sees through him.

Job 20:17-20 He does not look at the streams, The rivers flowing with honey and curds. He returns what he has attained And cannot swallow it; As to the riches of his trading, He cannot even enjoy them. For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; He has seized a house which he has not built. Because he knew no quiet within him, He does not retain anything he desires.

Proverbs 15:6 Great wealth is in the house of the righteous, But trouble is in the income of the wicked.

Proverbs 30:8-9 Keep deception and lies far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, That I not be full and deny You and say, "Who is the LORD?" Or that I not be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God.

Deuteronomy 32:15 Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, they became heavy and sleek. They abandoned the God who made them and rejected the Rock their Savior.

 

Nehemiah 9:25-26 They captured fortified cities and a fertile land They took possession of houses full of every good thing, Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves, Fruit trees in abundance So they ate, were filled and grew fat, And reveled in Your great goodness. "But they became disobedient and rebelled against You, And cast Your law behind their backs And killed Your prophets who had admonished them So that they might return to You, And they committed great blasphemies.

Hosea 13:6 As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, And being satisfied, their heart became proud; Therefore they forgot Me.

Proverbs 23:4 Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Cease from your consideration of it.

Haggai 1:3-5 Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?" Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider your ways!

Leviticus 19:13 You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning.

Deuteronomy 24:12-15 If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge.  When the sun goes down you shall surely return the pledge to him, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and it will be righteousness for you before the LORD your God. You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your countrymen or one of your aliens who is in your land in your towns.

Proverbs 22:16 He who oppresses the poor to make more for himself or who gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.

Isaiah 1:23 Your rulers are rebels And companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe And chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow's plea come before them.

Jeremiah 22:13 Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness And his upper rooms without justice, Who uses his neighbor's services without pay And does not give him his wages,

Micah 6:12 For the rich men of the city are full of violence, Her residents speak lies, And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

Malachi 3:5 Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me," says the LORD of hosts.

Job 31:24, 25, 28 If I have put my confidence in gold, And called fine gold my trust, If I have gloated because my wealth was great, And because my hand had secured so much; ... That too would have been an iniquity calling for judgment, For I would have denied God above.

Psalm 52:7 Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge, But trusted in the abundance of his riches And was strong in his evil desire."

Proverbs 18:11 A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, And like a high wall in his own imagination.

 

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Matthew 4:9-10 and he said to Him, "All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, "Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only’”.

Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

Matthew 13:22 And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Matthew 19:21-22Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.

Mark 4:19 but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Mark 10:21-22 Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.

Luke 6:20 “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. 23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. 24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. 25 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. 26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

 

Luke 8:14 The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.

Luke 12:13-21 ¹³ Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”¹⁴ Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” ¹⁵ Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” ¹⁶ And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. ¹⁷ He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ ¹⁸ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. ¹⁹ And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ ²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ²¹ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

 

Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth

Luke 16:19-21 Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day.  And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores … 25 But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony

 

Luke 18:22-23 When Jesus heard this, He said to him, "One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

1 Timothy 3:3 not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money.

 

1 Timothy 6:8-9 If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.

1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

1 Timothy 6:17 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

James 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?

James 5:1 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Billiards Ball]

Amen. Thank God, God's Word has many hundreds of verses correcting our attitudes towards money, its use and its lure.

[JTC]

IMO we only need enough money for very basic necessities. But I'll never forget this one middle aged homeless woman who disagreed with me. This was in NYC and she was sleeping on the sidewalk. I tried to give her some money for food (or whatever) and she wouldn't take it. She told me HE takes care of her. She meant it too, I know because I saw her almost everyday going to and from work. Then she told me to put the money I wanted to give her in a poor box. I did but that woman really put me to shame. I learned at 15 money can't buy happiness but to be able to rely on God as much as that woman is not a bad thing. She reminded me of the poor widow in one of the Gospels. I believe that in heaven that old woman will have the most gorgeous clothes of everyone.

Having money isn't a big deal, it's much better to be rich with the fruits of the spirit. However, the people of this world will leave us either way. Only the people of the light stick around.     

[UnprofitableServantJames]

I like what Jesus said in Matthew 6:25-34,"

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one ^[j]cubit to his ^[k]stature?

²⁸ “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not ^[l]arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

He seems to be saying here that even our basic necessities will be met if we trust in God completely and "seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, then ALL these things will be added onto me."

It is interesting that He makes this statement right after telling us not to worry about what to eat and drink. Right before that, He says we shouldn't work for money.

It does sound like Jesus is challenging our dependency on money and what money can by. At least for me, I get the impression that even if we don't work for money, that Our Heavenly Father will provide for us if, and that is a big IF, we seek first His Kingdom.

Food for thought.

[JTC]

32 minutes ago, UnprofitableServantJames said:

It does sound like Jesus is challenging our dependency on money and what money can by. At least for me, I get the impression that even if we don't work for money, that Our Heavenly Father will provide for us if, and that is a big IF, we seek first His Kingdom.

   What Jesus meant there was don't work whereas your main focus is to accumulate wealth. He didn't mean to not work and make others or the state support you. If you're doing everything possible to support yourself God will make sure you don't starve or go naked. But you have to be working. That's one reason Paul was always reminding the people in the cities where he had preached already that he and the others who were with him always took a job rather than asking for money to live on.

[Leonardo Von]

It isn't for us to seek richness (Prov 23:4,5), but the Kingdom of the Creator and His justice (Mat 6:33).