Mark 10:17-22 (NKJV) 23)
"Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”
And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”
Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions."
The rich young ruler wanted to have eternal life and sought the Lord Jesus to determine if he could have eternal life.
But there's something that was in the way of what he really wanted.
To have eternal life and to have his riches. The best of both worlds.
What's holding a person back from fully committing to a life of Christ hampers most people from willfully surrendering everything to have eternal life.
"Sell whatever you have, give to the poor.....take up your cross, and follow Me."
Taking up your cross means to die to everything to have Christ ALONE.
Just like Paul.
Philippians 3:7-11 (NKJV) "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish,
that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."
In a split second, the rich young ruler counted everything that he had and compared it with what he had to give up to have "treasure in heaven."
Earthly possession or treasure in heaven.
Nope. The rich young ruler decided that he can't give away everything to have treasure in heaven. What he could see and possess now was more important than what he couldn't see.
The treasures on earth is comparable to sin. We treasure sin more than we treasure eternal life.
Mark 12:28-31 (NKJV) "Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”
Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The Lord is teaching us that the things that's on earth can't be loved greater than the One that created them. Once the things on earth are esteemed or loved greater than the One that created them, it's easy to ignore Him.
The prodigal son (see Luke 15:11-32) learned the hard way when famine came into the land. The devil can't send famine. God sent the famine. Look at all of the times that famine came in the land by the hand of God when Israel turned its back on God in sin.
Matthew 6:19-21 (NKJV) “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Matthew 6:24 (NKJV) “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
The common mistake that charismatics and WOF people make is esteeming riches, wealth, money, fame, and material goods above God.
It's called pride, arrogance, greed, and covetousness.
It's all in their doctrine and they know it. You won't get blessed unless you give. And if you don't give or tithe, you'll never get blessed.
But has anyone noticed that the preachers are the ones getting richer and richer and the people are still living paycheck to paycheck?
These false preachers always tell you to keep SOWING and one day you'll reap a harvest, while the false preacher reaped a harvest that same night that you sowed.
Then the false teachers teach TITHING, which they've never fully studied.
The Lord commanded Israel to tithe to support the work of the Levites because they were God's ministers of the tabernacle of Moses. The Levites had no inheritance and their only support came from the Lord that commanded the 11 remaining tribes to support them. There's no NT command given to the NT believers to tithe. The only place where you will find tithe or tithing in the NT is Matthew chapter 23, Luke chapter 18, and Hebrews chapter 7. None of which commands NT believers to tithe.
According to 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9, you could give whatever the Lord has placed on your heart. And if you don't have it to give, it's ok. You don't have it.
Week after week, they pour thousands, if not millions of their hard earned dollars into the plate. If you've noticed in the NT, the only times that we see money is when there was a collection taken by the women in Luke 8 to support the work of the Lord Jesus, and a collection was taken up to minister to the poor, and when Paul was in need.
Yes, Paul was in need, but what did he do?
He did without it and Paul didn't "shake them down" for it when he came to preach.
In fact, his earthly occupation was a tentmaker. Paul made a living while preaching the gospel, traveling around Asia Minor on his own dime.
Proverbs 30:7-9 (NKJV) "Two things I request of You
(Deprive me not before I die):
Remove falsehood and lies far from me;
Give me neither poverty nor riches—
Feed me with the food allotted to me;
Lest I be full and deny You,
And say, “Who is the LORD?”
Or lest I be poor and steal,
And profane the name of my God."
This is a great prayer of balance to prayer for ourselves.
The 10th Commandment is "You shall not covet...."
Luke 12:13-21 (NKJV) "Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’
So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.“‘ But God said to him,
‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
“So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
To add balance, we see that the Lord does provide for His people that walk in righteousness, but we don't walk in righteousness for gain.
We live in righteousness to please the Lord ONLY!
1 Timothy 6:5-10 (NKJV) "...useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.
From such withdraw yourself.
Now godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
Matthew 6:31-34 (NKJV) “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek.
For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
Hebrews 13:5-6 (NKJV) "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say:
“The LORD is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?”
And finally,
Matthew 7:7-12 (NKJV) “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."
So we need to make a choice.
Treasures on earth, or treasures in heaven.
The Creator or what He had created. We can't serve both.
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