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Red Script = Main Point / Blue Script= Directive / Double underline= Important to remember / Boxed= Biblical Text & SDA Commentary Reference / GREEN SCRIPT: A Possible AnswerLesson 2 I See, I Want, I Take January 6-12/13
Memory Text: “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22, NKJV).
The love of money and material possessions can come at us from many different angles. Ellen G. White describes the devil’s ploy to lure us through the wiles of materialism. “Go, make the possessors of lands and money drunk with the cares of this life. Present the world before them in its most attractive light, that they may lay up their treasure here, and fix their affections upon earthly things. We must do our utmost to prevent those who labor in God’s cause from obtaining means to use against us. Keep the money in our own ranks. The more means they obtain, the more they will injure our kingdom by taking from us our subjects. Make them care more for money than the up building of Christ’s kingdom and the spread of the truths we hate, and we need not fear their influence; for we know that every selfish, covetous person will fall under our power, and will finally be separated from God’s people.” - Counsels on Stewardship, pp. 154, 155.
This ploy, unfortunately, seems to be working well. Let us then look at these dangers and what the Word of God says to us so that we can avoid this spiritual trap.
Sunday The Prosperity Gospel January 7
A popular television preacher has a simple message: God wants to bless you, and the proof of His blessing is the abundance of material possessions that you own. In other words, if you are faithful, God will make you wealthy.
This idea, or variants of it, has been called the prosperity gospel: Follow God, and He will make you wealthy in worldly goods. This idea is nothing but a false theological justification for materialism, because what it’s really saying is, Do you want to be materialistic and to feel good about it? Well, we have got the “gospel” for you.
Yet connecting the gospel with guaranteed wealth is a misdirected sideshow. This belief creates dissonance with Scripture and reflects a self-centered theology that is nothing more than half-truth clothed in biblical language. At the core of this lie is the issue at the core of all sin, and that is self and the desire to please self above everything else.
The theology of the prosperity gospel teaches that, in giving to God, we gain in return a guarantee of material wealth. But this makes God a vending machine and turns our relationship with Him into nothing but a deal: I do this and You promise to do that in return. We give, not because it is the right thing to do but because of what we get in return.
That’s the prosperity gospel.
Read 2 Corinthians 8:1-7. What is happening here?
2 Corinthians 8:1-7 (Excel in Giving) 1Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia:2that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.3For I bear witness that according totheir ability, yes, and beyondtheirability,they werefreely willing,4imploring us with much urgency that we would receivethe gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.5And notonlyas we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, andthento us by the will of God.6So we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well.7But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—seethat you abound in this grace also. Grace of God. The liberality of the Macedonian churches came about in spite of their “deep poverty” (v. 2), and this testified to “the grace of God” at work in their hearts. Paul traces their generosity to its true source, and points out to the Corinthians that it is divine grace that inspires generous and sacrificial giving. Christians are said to be “stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). Furthermore, by the grace of God, Christians are stewards of the things they possess. The disposition to give to others is a divinely inspired talent, and thus a special evidence of divine grace. Deep poverty abounded. Figuratively speaking, the poverty of the Macedonians was such that they had to scrape the bottom of a barrel that was all but empty. Yet in spite of utter destitution they overflowed abundantly with help for others in need. The measure of Paul’s praise of the Macedonian Christians was not for the actual amount given, though it was doubtless considerable. It was the spirit that prompted the giving to which Paul pointed as worthy of emulation (see on Mark 12:41–44).
The abysmal poverty of Macedonia at this time was due to various factors. Three wars had desolated the area: the first, between Julius Caesar and Pompey, the second, between the triumvirs and Brutus and Cassius following Caesar’s assassination, and the third, between Octavian and Antony (see Vol. V, p. 28, 35, 37). So desperate was the condition of the Macedonians that they had petitioned the emperor Tiberius for a reduction of taxes. Furthermore, most of the early Christians came from the poorer classes of society.[1].
A POSSIBLE ANSWER: What is happening here is that Paul is trying to help His readers understand what God’s grace accomplished in the churches in Macedonia. What principles do we see in these texts that go against this idea of the prosperity gospel? A POSSIBLE ANSWER: A) God’s grace should move us to give of ourselves instead of that of our getting rich. B) We should have uppermost in our minds that we are first of all stewards, answerable or accountable to our Benefactor and we give but that which we have already received from Him. C) A liberal spirit seeks spontaneously for an outlet in acts of benevolence. It does not need urging or selfish gratification. D) One of the great tests of a triumphant Christian experience is not the accumulation of wealth but rather to know joy, peace, and love in the midst of affliction. E) True liberality has more to do with the openness of mind and heart rather than the amount of possessions one has. It refers, not so much to what is given, but to the quality of heart that is the basis of all true giving and that results in spontaneous self-sacrifice for the welfare of others. What does Paul mean when he talks about the “grace of giving” (2 Cor. 8:7, NIV)? A POSSIBLE ANSWER: A symmetrical Christian experience is a harmonious development of life and service, of inward graces and an outward expression of them. Any aspect of the Christian life cultivated at the expense of other aspects may become a blemish. The Corinthians excelled in so many ways that it would be inconsistent to neglect the grace of charity. Hence, the phrase suggests ‘a love offering’... a collection that is a result of love or an offering that was the result of grace/love.
These people, though in “extreme poverty” (2 Cor. 8:2, NIV), were nevertheless very generous, giving even more than they could afford. Texts like these, and many others, help refute the false theology of the prosperity gospel, which teaches that if you are living right with God you will have a lot of material possessions to show for it.
What examples can you find of those who are faithful to God but are not rich in worldly possessions, and those who are not faithful to God but who are rich in worldly possessions? A POSSIBLE ANSWER: Biblically: A) the Disciples of Christ, early followers of Jesus, the Widow of Zarephath (1Ki. 17), the OT prophets, John the Baptist. B) The Rich Young Ruler (Mk. 10), Man who greater storage barns (Lk. 12), Pharisees /Sadducees, Herod, Balaam (Numbers 22-24ff). (I don’t feel comfortable mentioning people who are alive today as it may be more a judgment.) What should this tell us about using wealth as an indicator of God’s blessings? A POSSIBLE ANSWER: It is not reliable nor is it wise. It is not theologically sound and does not necessarily reflect the mind or what God normally does or how He operates in a world contaminated with sin.
Monday Blurred Spiritual Eyesight January 8
We don’t need the Bible to teach us one obvious truth: the cares of this life and its riches are temporary. Nothing here lasts, and certainly not long either. As Paul said: “We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18). Christians have myopic vision when they are fixated on the cares of this world rather than on the path to heaven. And few things can blind their eyes to that path more than the deceitfulness of riches. Helen Keller, who was blind, said: “The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision.” The Bible is filled with examples of those who could see but were, indeed, spiritually blind.
“Some love this world so much that it swallows up their love for the truth. As their treasures here increase, their interest in the heavenly treasure decreases. The more they possess of this world, the more closely do they hug it to them, as if fearful their coveted treasure would be taken from them. The more they possess, the less do they have to bestow upon others, for the more they have, the poorer they feel. O, the deceitfulness of riches! They will not see and feel the wants of the cause of God.” - Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2, p. 267.
Blurred spiritual eyesight puts eternal salvation in jeopardy. It is not enough to keep Jesus in view; we must keep Him in focus.
Read Matthew 13:3-7 and 22. What danger is Jesus warning us about here?
Matthew 13:3-7 3Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying:“Behold, a sower went out to sow.4And as he sowed, someseedfell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.5Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.6But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.7And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 13:22 22Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 7. Thorns. Gr. akantha, “thorn,” or, “brier”; akantha is also used in referring to any prickly plant, such as the “thistle.” Luke defines the “thorns” of the Christian life as the “cares and riches and pleasures of this life” (see Luke 8:14; cf. Matt. 13:22).
In thorny ground the tender plants did not wither as rapidly as they did in the stony ground. Similarly, the experience of thorny-ground Christians progresses further than that of the stony-ground hearers. They make what appears to be a real start, and apparently they experience justification and the new birth. But they soon become “weary in well doing” (Gal. 6:9) and do not “go on unto perfection” (Heb. 6:1). Absorbed by the pleasures of this world and in the pursuit of its attractions, they neglect to weed out from the life those tendencies and traits of character that respond to temptation. They are like the person who had been freed from demon possession only to be repossessed by seven evil spirits (see on Matt. 12:43–45). Many of the things that attract the thorny-ground hearers and absorb their attention may not, in and of themselves, be harmful. But such persons become so absorbed in this world that they have no time to prepare for the next. Thorns sprung up. The thorns made it impossible for the wheat to mature (see Luke 8:14). In the same way secular interests prevent the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23) from reaching maturity. Religion is relegated to the subordinate position of being only one interest among many. For lack of cultivation it withers and eventually dies. That which the thorny-ground hearers lack is a moral transformation (COL 50). To them, justification is the sum and substance of religion, and they fail to realize that the Christian life consists essentially in the process known as sanctification—the process by which evil traits and tendencies are replaced by the perfect life-pattern of Jesus Christ (see on Gal. 2:20).
A POSSIBLE ANSWER: Jesus is warning us about permitting the tangible, earthly things absorb our time and attention to the point that they counteract the growth and development of the spiritual life and character development. Why is this an easy trap for anyone, rich or poor, to fall into? A POSSIBLE ANSWER: Because... it can happen so subtly. There is a magnetism and attraction coupled with the natural tendency of the carnal heart to have a proclivity to trust what is seen and equally, being satisfied with the tangible things of life.
First, Jesus warns us regarding “the cares of this world” (Matt. 13:22, NKJV). Jesus knows that we all have cares, including financial ones. The poor worry that they don’t have enough, the rich worry about what else they might want. We just need to be certain that we don’t let such cares “choke the word” (Matt. 13:22, NKJV) in our lives.