Affluence

Godly affluence

Exodus 3:8 NASB95

“So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

See also Dt 28:1–6; Dt 28:11; Ps 1:3; Ps 112:3; Pr 8:18–21; Pr 22:4; Is 60:5; Is 61:6; Is 66:12; Mic 4:4

Examples of affluence

Ge 2:8–12 Eden; Ge 13:2 Abraham; Ge 26:12–13 Isaac; Ge 33:11 Jacob; Job 42:10–12 Job

Solomon:

1 Ki 3:13; 1 Ki 10:23–29

2 Ch 32:27–29 Hezekiah; Mt 27:57 Joseph of Arimathea

The dangers of affluence

Pride

Dt 8:17–18; 1 Ti 6:17

See also Ps 10:4–6; Ps 73:3–6

Reliance upon riches

Pr 11:28; 1 Ti 6:17

See also Ps 62:10; Pr 23:5; Ec 10:19; Mk 10:24; Lk 12:16–21

Over-attachment to riches

Matthew 19:22 NASB95

But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.

Greed for more riches

Ecclesiastes 5:10 NASB95

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity.

Temptation

1 Timothy 6:9–10 NASB95

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. 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.

Cares and anxieties

Matthew 13:22 NASB95

“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.

Spiritual complacency

Revelation 3:17 NASB95

‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,

Contempt for God

See also Pr 30:8–9

Contempt for the poor or unfortunate

Job 12:5; Pr 22:16; Am 2:6–8; Am 4:1; Am 5:11; Lk 16:24–31; Jas 5:1–6

Affluence is temporary

It is for this life only

1 Timothy 6:7 NASB95

For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.

See also Job 1:21; Ps 37:35–36; Ps 49:10–12; Ps 49:16–20; Ec 5:15

It is often lost

Job 1:13–15; Ec 5:13–14

Spiritual affluence

The riches of God

Philippians 4:19 NASB95

And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

See also Ps 36:7–9; 2 Co 9:9; Eph 3:8

Spiritual wealth

Eph 1:3; 1 Pe 1:4; Re 2:9

The shared wealth of the church

Mk 10:29–30; Ac 4:34–35; Php 4:18

The wealth of heaven

Mt 6:20; Lk 12:33; Re 7:16–17