Riches and the Kingdom of God - Day 241 Through the Bible

In the Cabin Garden - near Mt. Celo Church

My Lessons and Applications from Today's Readings

Earthly Truth Without Heavenly Hope - Ecclesiastes 8, 9, 10 - (What It Says - Summarized) - Earthly Truth: 1) "I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. But it will not be well with the wicked."  2) "Who knows the interpretation of a thing?  A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the sternness of his face is changed." 3) "Then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun.  For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it." 4)  "This is an evil under the son: that one thing happens to all." 5) "Eat, drink, be merry, because God has already accepted your works."6) "Dead flies putrefy...give off a bad odor in a perfumer's ointment; so does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor." 7) "The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool shall swallow him up." 7) "The labor of fools wearies them." 8) "A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes merry; but money answers everything."

My Lessons and Applications - This is the difference in perspective between professed and possessed faith, between horizontal (earthly-focused) living versus vertical living (God-focused living.)  Solomon claims to "surely know that things will be well with those who fear God", yet his life has not given testimony to this.  The major thing God had commanded of King Solomon was to not marry outside the faith.  (1 Kings 11:4 says Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines.)  The nation split into two countries after Solomon's reign, largely because of his idolatry caused by foreign, unbelieving wives.  Solomon had the greatest earthly wisdom of any man, yet he understood nothing of eternal life or of the  mysteries of God and His ways.  The king still focuses on the works of man - not a relationship with God - with money being the answer to everything, with trying to find elusive self-satisfaction rather than glorifying God.  Little wonder his soul was never satisfied, that he sees all of life as vanity, as a grasping after wind.  Is my perspective vertical or horizontal?  When the truth of much of Solomon's "earthly" wisdom starts weighing on me, do I go to the Bible, into prayer for God's wisdom?  Am I immersing myself in the world's ways (media, earthly examples of success regardless of means used to garner them), or am I learning and living in obedience to God's Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit?  Do I live (possess) the truth of what Solomon professed, "I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God."  Am I able, through the indwelling Spirit and God's Word, to believe the eternal truth of this even if I cannot see the earthly fulfillment of it?

Faith Lived Out to the Glory of God - 1 Corinthians 10:10-23 (What It Says - Summarized) Paul is warning the church at Corinth that faith must be actualized in the daily life.  We must not profess one thing and live another:  1) "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons." 2) "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful.  All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.  Let no one seek his own, but each one the other's well-being." 3) "Whatever you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God."

My Lessons and Applications - Whom do I serve?  God? Self? Others?  Which wisdom motivates and informs my lifestyle - the wisdom of God or of the world?  Solomon's focus was on self, money, works and the disillusionment - even with great earthly success - that brings.  Paul's focus was on God's glory and serving others - "not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that many might be saved."  From an "under the sun" perspective Solomon was the world's greatest success story, but he viewed it all as vanity, and as "grasping for wind" - worthless.  His legacy was the Chosen Nation of God divided, the Chosen People of God being led into apostasy and captivity, and the wisest mind ultimately unable to answer life's greatest questions.  The apostle Paul's life would have been seen by many as a complete failure "under the sun."  By tradition he was martyred, he had no financial wealth, and he was considered apostate by the Jewish faith into which he was born and became a great scholar.  His life was not of Solomon's wealth but of Christ's Cross.  The legacy he left was one of unswerving loyalty to Jesus Christ, to the glory of God, to bringing many to faith through his prolific writings and teachings. Paul's life was Christ's and was used and is still being used to transform the lives of believers through the gospel.  Is my life laid at the foot of the Cross - to be used by Him for His glory?  Our world gives testament daily to the lives ruined by excess and great wealth, yet the majority of us still make the accumulation of wealth our life's goal and grant adulation and political and corporate power to the wealthy.  Why?

James 2:6 

"But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?"  

Mark 10: 23-29 (also found in Matthew)

Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, “Who then can be saved?”

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”

Then Peter began to say to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You.”

So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first."