Quote:
Originally Posted by Rico
Abraham was rich. David was a king and lived like one. Nothing wrong with being rich.
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I never said there was something wrong with being rich.
Now, David was the king. He was not a priest and was not expected to live off the income of priestly duties.
The Servant, in the NT, did not get rich off of the sheep.
They were naked, poor, persecuted, selling their goods to provide for the necessity of others....such a vast contrast to many of todays Celebrity class Ministry.
In fact we really are quite far from the original church ideal where they sold their goods as a church to provide for others.
In fact, when I read all the bible says about the rich, I find it hard to believe that anyone thinks it's ok for a "minister" to get rich off of the sheep and live a life that is separated from the very people they were supposed to be ministering to, in mansions and driven around in a limo....sorry but that is just the way my thinking is from what I read in the word. Of course "rich" is a subjective term. And the issue is not necessarily even having riches, but what is done with them and how one lives on them.
Paul said
1Co 9:20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.
1Co 9:21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.
1Co 9:22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
1Co 9:23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
What does the bible say about the Rich?
Luk 18:21 And he said, "All these I have kept from my youth."
Luk 18:22 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."
Luk 18:23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
Luk 18:24 Jesus, looking at him with sadness, said, "How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!
Luk 18:25 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."
1Ti 6:6 Now there is
great gain in godliness with contentment,
1Ti 6:7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
1Ti 6:8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
1Ti 6:9 But
those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
1Ti 6:10 For the
love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
1Ti 6:11
But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.
1Ti 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
1Ti 6:13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession,
1Ti 6:14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Ti 6:15 which he will display at the proper time--he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
1Ti 6:16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
1Ti 6:17
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
1Ti 6:18
They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,
1Ti 6:19
thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
Luk 6:23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
Luk 6:24 "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Luk 12:16 And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully,
Luk 12:17 and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?'
Luk 12:18 And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
Luk 12:19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.'
Luk 12:20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'
Luk 12:21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."
Luk 14:12 He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.
Luk 14:13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
Luk 14:14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."
Jas 2:2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,
Jas 2:3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "You sit here in a good place," while you say to the poor man, "You stand over there," or, "Sit down at my feet,"
Jas 2:4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Jas 2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
Jas 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?
Jas 2:7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
Jas 5:1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.
Jas 5:2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.
Jas 5:3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.
Jas 5:4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
Jas 5:5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
Jas 5:6 You have condemned; you have murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
The Servants
2Co 6:3 We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry,
2Co 6:4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way:
by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,
2Co 6:5
beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;
2Co 6:6
by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love;
2Co 6:7
by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;
2Co 6:8
through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;
2Co 6:9
as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed;
2Co 6:10
as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
2Co 6:11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open.
Jesus our example
Php 2:1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,
Php 2:2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
Php 2:3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Php 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Php 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
Php 2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Php 2:7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Php 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
So yeah...it's not wrong to be rich, but considering what the NT has to say about ministers and riches I find it hard to believe this is how a minister should be in God's eyes. Second, from what the bible says, though God may give someone the ability to gain riches is the child of God to do with those riches as he pleases or as God pleases?
IN the OT they were told that God gave them riches to establish HIS kingdom, not theirs. It's my view that we have allowed the world to creep into the church and dictate to the church many values rather than the word.
The world has idols and the church has idols. The world has celebrities and the church has celebrities. The world seeks to gain riches off of others and the church does too.
That's how I look at it.
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