Get Poor, Die Rich
Notes
Transcript
Jesus teaches that it requires an impossible miracle for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. The modern Christian may be armed with all the reasons this does not apply to them, but our first instinct should be to take this literally and seriously. If anything, including earthly wealth, has a hold of your heart, go and give it away… and follow Jesus. Get poor, die rich.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
I read this book when I was a teenager, recommended to me by a friend who was super into learning how to get rich. And that’s the idea here. The poor dad (his actual dad) was the foil, a bit of a fool. The lessons are all about the rich dad, his friend’s dad, who taught him the secrets of how to get rich.
This is one of a thousand books like it: how to get rich. Here is the shared motivation: that’s the goal. The goal is to get rich, obviously, duh, the ONLY question is how to get there.
Jesus, not so great it would seem at the getting rich part. Lived and died penniless.
And today: his excellent advice on how to get poor.
Recap
Recap
13 Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people,
14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
15 And he laid his hands on them and went away.
This is what the Kingdom looks like. Children coming to Jesus.
This is who the Kingdom belongs to. Humble children.
Not because they have great accomplishments, not because of their performance… simply because they are Children of God.
And then, here comes another “Child of God” confused about how to get into the Kingdom.
The Rich Young Man
The Rich Young Man
16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
Note the assumption: what must I “do.”
Not, who must I be.
Not, where must I go or be.
And, most tellingly, not who must I know or who should I follow.
The focus is on accomplishment, production, doing and earning.
Jesus meets him where he is at, though he focuses first on the “who” and then on the “what” that came from the “who”:
17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”
I love the phrase “enter life” as opposed to “earn eternal life.”
Life, abundant life, is found in the good commandments of God - instructions on how to live well and fruitfully and at peace, shalom, with God and people. That life doesn’t start after you die, you enter it as you live it.
You exit that abundant “Shalom” life when you depart from his commandments.
But this dude is still focused on checking boxes.
18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,
“Which ones?” Love it. Surely there’s a limit.
Jesus goes straight to the Ten Words…
19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
But that last one isn’t one of the Ten. Lev 19:18.
And then the young man says this incredible thing:
20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”
Is that true? Did this young man really keep all of those? That’s impressive.
And Jesus doesn’t argue with him. That’s a lesson in effective evangelism right there, by the way. He doesn’t go one by one through the commandments, for surely this young man has fallen short in every one that Jesus has listed, at least in keeping them from the heart.
Instead, Jesus speaks straight to what has a greatest hold of the young man’s heart.
21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Now… did the young man follow Jesus?
We don’t know. He would have had to “go away” in order to give away all his possessions, and I bet he would have been sad to do so.
I think most of us, reading this, assume that he didn’t. That he went away sad because, for him, it was a price he was unwilling to pay, it was too much, riches had too strong a hold on his heart for him to let go.
And the explanation the text gives is that it was harder because he had “great possessions.” Maybe it would have been easier if he only had $20 to his name, but with a net worth of $2 million he would have a WAY harder time divesting. There’s details and process.
And… consider how much harder to earn it back.
And the drastic change in lifestyle. Lifestyle inflation is a real thing, you come to expect certain things, luxuries, ease, free time, entertainment, good food… and the freedom from worrying, living paycheck to paycheck.
Camels through Needles
Camels through Needles
23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.
24 Again I tell you, 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.”
Fortunately, there is an explanation here.
Did you know that there was a gate into Jerusalem, a gate knows as the “eye of the needle.” And it was mainly for pedestrians, but one could get a camel through it, but it was a pain. You had to unload all the baggage, have the camel kneel down, and then kind of scooch through.
Difficult, awkward, not ideal, but doable.
One tiny problem.
Totally bogus. Made up. Myth. No archeological evidence, no written evidence.
There is no record of any such gate until after the year 1000. It doesn’t even work in the text, as the different gospels use different words for “eye”, and Luke uses the word for a surgeon’s needle, which clearly shows it couldn’t be a title at all… Jesus is talking about the part of the needle you struggle to put the thread through.
Someone made this up at some point to make it easier for rich people. Not “impossible”, just kind of awkward and hard, requiring a little extra effort.
That’s not true, that’s not what Jesus is saying, and that’s not how the disciples heard it:
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”
Exactly!
26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
So, hear that. Jesus says “this is impossible.” What is impossible? It is impossible for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Now, we can dodge this again if we want. It is impossible for ALL men to to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but with God all things are possible. No one can enter by works, by earning, all have fallen short of the glory of God.
Yes.
And yet, Jesus repeatedly calls out the specific dangers of “riches,” and not just here:
22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
There is a special danger in riches. They are deceitful, choking the word (logos) of God, the word of the Kingdom, the word of gospel.
13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
You cannot serve God and money!
Or, most brutally, in Luke there is a downside to the Beatitudes, blessed are the poor but…
24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Wealth is dangerous to the soul
If that’s true, and I believe it is, a WHOLE lot of our messaging and teaching is way off.
Do I want to inherit tons of money from my parents? No! I have told them, please spend it all, enjoy the blessings God has given you, and enjoying giving it away lavishly… and not just on the grandkids :D.
But, for the realz, if wealth is a danger to the soul, why would I want riches?
Do I teach my kids “Get the job that makes tons of money?!” My instinct is “yes” because, let’s face it, life is easier the higher that income goes. It’s math. But what if “wealth is dangerous to the soul?” That changes the story quite a bit.
Do I want to earn millions or billions of dollars and leave it all to my kids? Not if “wealth is dangerous to the soul.” What a burden, what a risk to them!
And when I look at my own portfolio, when I see my “Net Worth” and the performance of my 401k, I love to see numbers go brrr. I love to see numbers go up. I love the game, and optimizing for the win, and all those things.
But if I take comfort in that, I find comfort in the wrong place.
If I feel more confident about tomorrow because my bank account is healthy, where is my trust and hope placed? In Chase Bank I trust. In Checking Account I hope.
The deceitfulness of riches!
Jesus says wealth is dangerous to the soul!
I’m not rich!
I’m not rich!
But wait, we can still dodge this! I know, you were worried this applied to you! But you aren’t wealthy, right? There is someone you know who is wealthier, who has more, bigger house, better car, more cars, flashier clothes, HUGE assets.
Jesus is talking about them!
What would have been “wealth” to Jesus? To Jesus’ audience then?
Obviously if you showed up with your clothes with colors… and more than one or two sets of clothes, look at Richy Rich over here?!
Much less if you pulled out a phone! Pulled up in a car? They’d burn you as a witch!
But, the real measure of riches, do you know where your next meal is coming from? How many meals are accounted for? How long is your horizon where you and yours have food and shelter?
And the test of the heart is this:
When Jesus says sell it all and follow… do you do it or do you go away sad?
Notice, I don’t say “if”. I think in one way or another, Jesus asks us to do this often. Over and over. I don’t think this is the exception, I think this is the rule.
This isn’t just a call to give your money to the church, but to give where and how and when God directs. We have the same principle for all the money we hold together as a church. We just had our “family meeting” last week deciding exactly this kind of thing: where and how God directs us, the Holy Spirit leads us, to give and gift and use ALL He has blessed us with for His glory. It’s just a question of where and when.
I will say, that we pick up the discipline of tithing from the Old Testament law as a healthy model of what giving can look like. God taught the Israelites the principle of setting aside the “firstfruits” for God: the firstborn of every cow, goat, sheep sacrificed, the first of the harvest, and essentially buying back the firstborn child. The principle of giving God the first 10% is in recognition that it is all His.
It is a discipline to teach our soul that.
KK and I do this with our own finances, we give our first 10% to the church. That’s scary sometimes, when bills are piling up. But it is in recognition that it is ALL HIS, and that wealth is dangerous to our souls, and that NONE of it is allowed to get a hold of our hearts.
We should be pondering how, when, where we are giving it away, not “if” we are giving it away.
And we never let the wealth grab a hold of our heart. Grab a hold of our soul. It isn’t ours.
We have a word for this, we call it Stewardship.
Stewardship
Stewardship
Everything is His.
No, you can’t trick God with this. You can’t trick your own soul with this. This negates nothing Jesus has said above, and our first and default answer should be “Get Poor, Die Rich.”
And whenever wealth gets a hold of your heart, here is the antidote. Give it away.
Stewardship is this: Everything I have belongs to God. I receive it all at His hand, and it is His always.
It is the talents, the gold invested in us, for the multiplication of His Kingdom.
Is there a place for Celebration in that? For enjoying the Blessings he gives us, lavishly, a place for the feast? Absolutely, yes and amen! Without guilt, He teaches us to Celebrate. It’s our Spiritual Discipline for this month.
Jesus knows how to party. He knows how to feast. And he knows when to feast… and when the feast is over. There is a time for pouring out, and there is a time for fasting, and if you live always in the Feast you damage to your soul… just as if you live always in the Fast (you die).
The good steward can grow the wealth of God without it damaging their soul. There is a spiritual gift of giving “the one who contributes in generosity.” People who God has gifted with the ability to make TONS of money and the heart to steward it well, give it freely and often. “God loves a cheerful giver.” (Rom 12:7, 2 Cor 9:7)
And that has always been true. There are people likely funding Jesus ministry, giving lavishly to the early church, and it is beautiful that we don’t know hardly any names… it means they are following Jesus’ command to give secretly, without fanfare.
But be careful:
Steward of Gondor
Steward of Gondor
Consider the Steward of Gondor. My favorite “steward.”
If you read his whole story, he is one of the best of men, he strove will to will with the enemy for decades, he led Gondor with tremendous wisdom, he was considered one of the wisest and best men and leaders of all time.
It is a cautionary tale in the deceitfulness of riches and power.
It didn’t end well for him, lost in despair, on fire, right before the final victory.
Here is our mission: Get Poor, Die Rich.
Do the best you can to give it all in the ministry and mission of Jesus.
If God makes that hard on you by multiplying his blessings on you… hallelujah! Feast in season, fast in season, steward well… and Get Poor again.
Get poor, Die rich.
Where does the die rich part come in?
Treasures in Heaven
Treasures in Heaven
27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”
Oh, Peter. It sounds like another “Oh, Peter, tsk tsk” moment, doesn’t it?
It’s actually not a bad question to be asking, and Jesus doesn’t rebuke him. Jesus teaches us to treasure well, treasure rightly, and store our treasure in the right place.
Peter is learning how… and this is the right place. And there absolutely is treasure coming, reward in heaven, and it’s good:
28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
That’s a great reward.
but it should never be comparative (more about that in two weeks):
29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Get Poor, Die Rich
Get Poor, Die Rich
I want to “receive a hundredfold.” That’s a heck of an investment.
I want to “inherit eternal life.” That’s an even better investment.
I want to “enter life” as Jesus invited the rich young man. Life now, life abundant, life forever.
“Last will be first” is good news. The treasures in heaven aren’t all taken by the apostles or the earliest Christians, Jesus still has a place for you.
Don’t let empty treasures, the deceitfulness of riches, steal the treasure that’s actually worth having.
The treasure you can keep. The only treasure you can keep.
Jesus says, to all of us, to “follow him.”
He says to leave everything that has a hold of your heart, and that riches are a danger to your soul.
So we are on the lookout for where and when and how God leads us to give it all away.
We practice that week by week or month by month, paycheck by paycheck. We give him firstfruits, tithes, to remind ourselves that it is all his.
We actively look for where and how he is asking us to give His money away for His Kingdom and His glory.
We refuse to give it a place in our hearts, so that when the day comes that Jesus says “give and follow” we are filled with JOY at the invitation of Jesus to walk in his footsteps and couldn’t care less for the cash. Throw it in the air and run after Jesus.
