I’m sharing a little bit of the book with ya’ll…
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.” Luke 16:19
I think in our world today Jesus might of said something like, “There was a rich man who was dressed in a nice black suit, with an silk tie and lived in a nice big house made of fine cut stones and bricks. And drove an vehicle wealth other people’s yearly income.” Can you just feel the conviction right now? I do everyday, as I drive my $18000 chevy cruze right pass homeless people under highways in the cities across north texas. I live in the part of the world the riches that we live under, help us just get by day to day, while in other nations, people make a percent of my daily income in a year.
What I’m trying so hard to do is to show people that we are not looking at ourselves in the right view of the bible. See when I look around, I see something, I see young men try to make themselves stronger and more good looking to impress a woman and their bosses, so they can get a promotion or the best looking girl in town and I see the same is true for girl, they put make up on and try so hard to make the nice looking guys to like them. Why does this matter?
It’s not wrong to be rich. Riches can be a blessing from God. Like one rich men in the old testament. He name was Solomon. He was born into this world because David sinned and took another men life from him and then took his wife. Solomon ended up becoming the next ruler of Israel when David died. God told Solomon to ask for anything and God would give it to him and so solomon asked for Wisdom to Rule God’s People and because Solomon Asked for that, God gave him Wealth along with it, because the request was noble and righteous and God honored that, but giving him what he really wanted, which was wealth. See when we put God first, God could make us wealthy. I’m not saying he will, but could. Jesus talked about seeking the Kingdom of God and his righteousness first and everything else will follow, in Matthew 6:33.
So if riches isn’t a bad thing, then why am I talking about it in this way? Answer, alot of christians in America live by this ideal that if I’m rich, I most be in the center of God’s will. If I’m rich, God most be blessing me. If I’m rich ———. Fill in the blank.We as a whole got it all wrong. We have put money first, God 2nd and everything else 3rd. Think about it, When the last time that you got your pay check and pulled out a lumsum and gave it straight towards reaching people for christ or helping a homeless man eat for the day or something towards a God honoring step of faith? 5 years ago maybe? But how about when was the last time you paid your bills first thing first. See what we do with our money, shows where our hearts are located. What was the rich man doing with his money? He was buying expensive clothing and paying for a nice place to live. It says ‘everyday’. It was the normal for him. Just like it’s the normal for us Americans to go to the mall and buy a shirt that cost $60, my personal daily wage, and then go to a nice big house that has more space then we know what to do with it.
We’re not even finish talking about the rich men, we still got more to talk about, that was just the first verse.