Poor On Earth | Poor In Heaven

Biblical Examples
The sluggard & The fool in Proverbs

Key Scriptures
Proverbs 6:6-11
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! 
7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 
8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? 
10 A little sleep, a little slumber, 
   a little folding of the hands to rest— 
11 and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

Proverbs 21:20
20 The wise have wealth and luxury,but fools spend whatever they get.

Proverbs 21:5
5 Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

What we can learn
– this is not the place God wants us
- Some people end up here because of behaviours: laziness, ignoring advice, poor planning, lack of knowledge, trying to find an easy way
- Others end up here not because of their own actions – because of injustice
- we need to reach out to these people
- if we are in this place we need to get out of it – if you need help – let us know

Rich On Earth | Poor In Heaven

Biblical Examples
Esau, The Rich Young Ruler

Key Scriptures
Matt 6:24
24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money

Luke 18:18-25
18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’” 21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.  22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”  23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

What we can learn
 - this is one of the toughest battles we have as the world teaches us to desire this – consumerism, materialism, hedonism
- it’s OK to have money – but we need Christ at the centre of our life

Poor On Earth | Rich In Heaven

Biblical Examples
The Widow, Jesus, Paul

Key Scriptures
Luke 21:1-4
1 While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. 2 Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. 3 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. 4 For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”

Matt 6:19-21
19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

Matt 6:31-33
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

What we can learn
 - we are in good company here!
- we need to focus on the kingdom of God – heavenly things
- we need to be thankful for the things we have

Poor On Earth | Rich In Heaven

Biblical Examples
Abraham, Joseph, Lydia

Key Scriptures
Prov 3:9-10
9 Honor the Lord with your wealth
and with the best part of everything you produce.
 10 Then he will fill your barns with grain,
and your vats will overflow with good wine.”

Prov 22:4
4 True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life.

1 Tim 6:17-19
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

What we can learn
 - wealthy people are not better people
- with earthly wealth we need to be rich in good works and generous to others
- we should try and adopt this attitude no matter which quadrant you think you are in

Seek Heavenly Wealth.

Be The Church.

The most talked about theme in the Bible – is love… followed by money. There are about 500 verses on faith, 5oo on prayer and over 2000 on money. It surrounds our world, and is a topic we can’t ignore – so we’re going to blog about this for the next couple of weeks.

There’s this model that we have been thinking through for a while – that helps us get the right perspective on the rich and the poor. We hope it helps you as you work out how your money can be used to worship God.

The first part to think about is Earthly Wealth.

In earthly terms you can be rich or poor.

It’s good to get some perspective here – 48% of the world’s population live on less than $2.50/day. The fact that you somehow have a computer to read this blog on – means that despite your financial circumstances – and rich or poor feelings in the context of your social surroundings – you are probably on the richer end of that scale!

A few other points about earthly wealth:

• God provides all earthly wealth for you. Managing what you have been given – good stewardship – is part of our worship.
• Righteousness is not defined by earthly wealth. There is a “poverty theology” that says if you are devoted to God you will be poor. There is a “prosperity theology” that says you become rich as God is rewarding you for your faith. We don’t buy either of these ideas – they just don’t stack up in the full context of the Bible.

Then we come to Heavenly Wealth.

In heavenly terms you can be rich or poor.

This is the wealth that we should focus on – aspiring for treasures in heaven.

This creates four quadrants – as you can see in the picture – which gives us the four types of rich and poor people the Bible talks about:

• Poor earthly wealth, Poor heavenly wealth
• Rich earthly wealth, Poor heavenly wealth
• Poor earthly wealth, Rich heavenly wealth
• Rich earthly wealth, Rich heavenly wealth

We’re going to keep writing about this next week – looking at Biblical examples of people who fit each of these categories and what behaviours get us into each quadrant.

For now – let’s seek heavenly wealth.

Use your money in a tangible way to worship God.

Be The Church.

It’s like we were freed from hymns but now we are bound by fast songs and slow songs.
(don’t hear us wrong here – we love music in our church)

Jesus says that: “A time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.”

Worship is a lifestyle.

We can’t spend all week consumed with ourselves – and then expect God’s blessing on a Sunday morning during a music set. It has to be about all of life.

The first time the word worship was used was when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac. He worshipped God – not through a slow song – but by putting his most treasured possession to death.

The literal meaning is to bow down.

Consider one of the last times David spoke to his people. He said “Praise the Lord your God” so they all praised the Lord, they bowed low and fell prostrate before the Lord and the King.” Their response was not to sing a slow song – but to bow down.

Our worship should be about breaking into God’s presence – rather than towards a God who is abstract. Engaging spirit to spirit.

It should begin with holy expectancy and end with holy obedience.

Our worship should be first – our service second.

Let’s worship.

Spirit. Truth.

Lifestyle.

Be The Church.

It makes sense – I want to follow Jesus – so I want to hear what he is saying to me.

So here is a foundation to help get started.

1. Believe that God will speak
Do you actually believe that God will speak to you?
If you can’t hear – do you assume God isn’t speaking?
What is your expectation of how God will speak to you?

Check out some things Jesus said about God speaking:
John 16:13-15
John 10:14-16
John 10:27

2. Be prepared to obey
If we desire to hear God then we need to be prepared to obey what He says

Jesus said that even “more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”

3. It’s a journey
With so many parts of following Jesus – it’s a journey – God graciously continues to reveal more and more about himself to us. Hearing from God is the same – it starts with small steps. Consider the journey of Samuel and how he heard from God.

1 Samuel 3:10 – here a young Samuel is learning to hear the voice of God
1 Samuel 8:7-10 – Samuel knows God’voice and speaks on his behalf with instruction and authority
1 Samuel 12:14-20 – later in his life Samuel knows God’s voice so well he is calling down miracles

So that’s a foundation – and in the next blog we’ll give you some practical steps.

Listen.

Obey.

Journey.

Be The Church.

Throughout the New Testament we hear about a concept called “koinonia” – meaning fellowship or one another.

It’s first heard in Acts 2:24 when the early followers of Jesus devoted themselves to fellowship. That’s God’s people living together in intentional and relational community to look out for one another in every way – including physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

That concept occurs 20 times in the New Testament – check out some of these concepts of “koinonia”

- Be devoted to one another: Romans 12:10
 - Live in harmony with one another Romans 12:16
 - Accept one another Romans 15:7
 - Serve one another in love Galations 5:13
 - Be kind and compassionate to one another Ephesians 4:32
 - Encourage one another 1 Thessalonians 5:11
 - Spur one another on toward love and good deeds Hebrews 10:24
 - Share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay 1Peter 4:9

We weren’t meant to do life on our own.

God created community.

Let’s journey together.

Koinania.

Be The Church.

Part of that is work and part of that is rest.

Consider the Ten Commandments. We tend to live by most of these as part of the moral fabric of our society… that is except for the one that says take a day of rest. We seem to take the others seriously – but not this one.

Lets read it in Exodus 20:8-11
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day set it apart as holy.

This is God’s rhythm for our life… six days of work and then one day of rest.

Reading this commandment there are a few key points:
v8: Keep it holy – meaning don’t have pointless rest – but God centred rest

v9: Follow the rhythm – 6 days work – 1 day rest (it doesn’t matter what day it is)

v10: Don’t fudge it – don’t find ways to work or get anyone working for you when you are meant to resting

v11: God needed to rest – he lives by this rhythm.
What does it mean for God to rest… He was satisfied with his work – and he took time to leisure and savour it.
So we need to take a day to stop work – to rest, to leisure in God. To remind ourselves that our life comes from our creator, His grace – not our labour.

Do you know how to rest in God – how to enjoy God?

We live in a world with a lot of leisure – human pleasure that has no relation to God. We need to learn to delight in God in a way that surpasses this.

So here is our tips on resting:

- value your day of rest – find a reason to stop – it’s good for you physically, mentally and spiritually

- guard your day of rest – you may need to work hard at resting

- enjoy others in your day of rest (the most important things in life aren’t things – but people – you find God in community)

- enjoy God in your rest (it’s a day to worship)

Work.

Rest.

Rhythm.

Be The Church.

There is rhythm in life all around us – day and night, seasons, our heartbeat…

God has a rhythm for our life – work and rest.

In this post we are talking about work – next post – rest.

Work is not employment – we are talking about the work we do for God.

In writing to the Ephesians Paul says that we need to realise that we can’t work for our salvation – we have been saved by grace Ho goes on to say that we have been created for a purpose and that our response to this grace is to actually work.

Or check out James when he says that our faith must be visible by our work.

In fact that is a stack of places where we are called to work:
John 14:12
Matt 5:16
Philippians 2:12
1 Corinthians 15:58
1 Peter 1:17

Now when it comes to work we need to make sure our work comes out of our faith – our foundation – doing what God says – otherwise its just works.

In other words we need to stop doing things right and do the right things.

Don’t just follow good ideas – follow God ideas.

So what work are you doing for God?

Now the rhythm comes that we work for six days – and then we rest for one day… all in our next post.

Saved by grace.

Respond.

Work.

Be The Church.

It’s a free community event to help you live life to the full.

Finger food lunch will be provided from 11.45am.

Sessions run for about 30mins from about 12pm (we like to keep it laid back) and are held after our Sunday Sessions in the Maureen Grierson Community Centre on The Esplanade in Scarborough.

This year the topics and schedule will be:

May 20: Managing Your Energy
Jun 3: Community Jam (bring your musical instrument)
Jun 17: Making the most of your money
Jul 1: Positive Parenting
Jul 15: Mens Brains Womens Brains
Jul 29: Drawing Your Way Into Art
Aug 5: The Promised Land – movie premiere
Aug 19: What Are You Really Eating?
Sep 2: Finding The Leader In You
Sep 16: Understanding Your Personality
Sep 30: Keys To A Successful Marriage
Oct 7: Building A Healthy Body
Oct 21: Practical surf skills (this will be on the beach)

See you there.

Be The Church.