2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit teaches the saints that they can become rich in this life. So the question is then asked, what does our Lord mean when He says to us that we can become rich? And so in this section we want to discuss the biblical definition of being rich.
2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”
The world’s view of being is rich is having great possessions i.e. large homes, luxury cars, a large bank balance, etc. But that is not heaven’s view at all, for from the above quoted passage of scripture we see that God’s view of our being rich is that we simply have more than enough to meet our needs, so that with our excess we can bless others that are experiencing need. Notice in this passage that Paul teaches us that the saints are meant to “always” be in such a state. In other words, being rich means that the saints should not experience any lack.
Philippians 4:19 “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
The above quoted passage of scripture again confirms to us that God’s view of our being rich is that all of our needs are met, and He has promised to do exactly that. And so the question then arises as to just what our needs are? As we will see from scripture, God deems our needs to be food, clothing and a home to live in. In other words, God has promised to provide all the basic necessities that we need to live in this life, i.e. we should never experience hunger or thirst, we should never be poorly clothed, and we should never be homeless.
Matthew 6:24-33 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (25) "Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? (26) Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (27) Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? (28) "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; (29) and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (30) Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (31) "Therefore, do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' (32) For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. (33) But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
We have seen in this section thus far that God has promised to supply all of our needs to live in this life. And in the above quoted passage of scripture our Lord Jesus reveals to us that our heavenly Father already knows the things we have need of. In this passage our Lord lists two of those needs i.e. food and clothing. When our Lord mentions these needs He points us to the way God supplies the needs of His creation, in that they do not sow, reap, gather into barns, toil or spin, and yet God supplies all of their needs. And so our Lord admonishes us not to worry about our needs, because if God is able to meet the needs of His creation who do none of the activities that men do, how much more can He meet our needs, through our sowing, reaping, gathering into barns, toiling and spinning, etc.
Mark 10:28-30 “Then Peter began to say to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You." (29) So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, (30) who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time--houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions--and in the age to come, eternal life.”
Another of our basic needs in this life includes having our own homes. And in the above quoted passage of scripture the Lord Jesus confirms to us that God provides a home for His children to live in, for in this passage our Lord speaks of the saints having lands and houses. The context of this passage is that our Lord is speaking about those whom He calls to the ministry, leaving their lands and houses to follow Him. Our Lord tells us in this passage that those who are obedient to leave their homes to serve Him will in this life, receive a hundredfold return. The hundredfold return that our Lord is speaking about in this passage pertains to brothers, sisters, mothers and children, for obviously our Lord adds to those in the ministry, the saints that He has predestined to be included in the sphere of their ministries (2 Corinthians 10:13). The hundredfold lands and houses that our Lord is speaking about, pertains to the Lord’s ministers being received into the homes of all the saints that our Lord has included in their spheres of ministry. As an aside, it is only the Lord’s ministers that are called to leave their homes to serve Him. Nevertheless the point that I wanted to highlight from this passage is that our Lord expects His saints to have their own homes, so that His ministers will have a place to stay when they go out to preach the gospel. And so our Lord would not expect His saints to have their own homes, if having their own homes was not included in their needs that God has promised to supply.
Matthew 6:8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”
We have seen so far in this section that God’s view of our being rich is that all of our needs are met, and that we actually have more than we need so that we can bless others with our excess. Although the scriptures specifically refer to food, clothing and a home, as being our basic needs that God will supply, as we can see from the above quoted passage of scripture, God understands that our needs extend to things like transport, education costs, etc, and so these aspects of our needs are included in that which God supplies.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments