Rich toward God

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Luke 12:18–21

Vance Havner told the story of missionaries who were sailing to Africa to begin their work for God. The captain of the ship was not a Christian, and he regarded their sacrifice as foolish. At one point he laughed at the missionaries and said, “You’ll die over there.” One of the missionaries responded, “Sir, we died before we left.”

This life is fleeting at best, yet all around us are people, including some Christians, who are living as if this world is all that matters. The popular bumper sticker reads: “He who dies with the most toys wins.” Though we know that philosophy is flawed and erroneous, too many people are drawn away by the temporary rather than focusing on the permanent. The Christian life is lived in this world, but to please God, it must be lived by the values of the next.

The size of our barns—our bank accounts, our houses, our cars, our savings—does not determine whether our lives are right or wrong. Wealth does not necessarily mean God’s blessing, and poverty does not necessarily mean His disfavor. The important thing is the direction of our heart. Are we focused on God and His kingdom, or on the temporal? We can start out well, but not finish well, as Paul noted concerning Demas: “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world…” (2 Timothy 4:10).

Today's Growth Principle
Rather than planning our futures with an eye on this world, we should trust God’s will and focus on eternity.

Old Testament Reading

Isaiah 3-4

CHAPTER 3

¹ For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, ² The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, ³ The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. ⁴ And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. ⁵ And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable. ⁶ When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand: ⁷ In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people. ⁸ For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

⁹ The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. ¹⁰ Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. ¹¹ Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. ¹² As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. ¹³ The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people. ¹⁴ The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. ¹⁵ What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

¹⁶ Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: ¹⁷ Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts. ¹⁸ In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, ¹⁹ The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, ²⁰ The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, ²¹ The rings, and nose jewels, ²² The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, ²³ The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails. ²⁴ And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty. ²⁵ Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. ²⁶ And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.

CHAPTER 4

¹ And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.

² In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. ³ And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: ⁴ When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. ⁵ And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. ⁶ And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.

New Testament Reading

Galatians 6

CHAPTER 6

¹ Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ² Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. ³ For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. ⁴ But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. ⁵ For every man shall bear his own burden. ⁶ Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. ⁷ Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. ⁸ For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. ⁹ And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. ¹⁰ As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

¹¹ Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. ¹² As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. ¹³ For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. ¹⁴ But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. ¹⁵ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. ¹⁶ And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. ¹⁷ From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁸ Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

To the Galatians written from Rome.

Proverbs Reading

Proverbs 27

¹ Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. ² Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips. ³ A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both. ⁴ Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy? ⁵ Open rebuke is better than secret love. ⁶ Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. ⁷ The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. ⁸ As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place. ⁹ Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel. ¹⁰ Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off. ¹¹ My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me. ¹² A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished. ¹³ Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman. ¹⁴ He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him. ¹⁵ A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike. ¹⁶ Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself. ¹⁷ Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. ¹⁸ Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured. ¹⁹ As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man. ²⁰ Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied. ²¹ As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise. ²² Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him. ²³ Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. ²⁴ For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation? ²⁵ The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered. ²⁶ The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field. ²⁷ And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.