Day 21 - Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?

Day 21: Matthew 19

WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?

Read Matthew 19 here first

 

There are bits in the Bible we don't like, let's be honest. Not just in the Old Testament, although there's plenty in there that we find strange. I once did a talk called 'Things I wish Jesus hadn't said'. Before you rip this up in disgust at my blasphemy, these weren’t phrases that I don’t believe, but they are phrases that I find tough because I do believe them. That’s the problem. Jesus says a lot of stuff that I believe, but if I choose to live by them, it will mean a complete transformation, and one which will be uncomfortable. This is a part that I wish wasn't in there.

Back in chapter 5 (verses 17-48 if you want to read up) Jesus talks about the Ten Commandments and urges a higher way. Ultimately, the commandments were meant to illustrate things about how God intended people to live, not merely tools to measure our 'goodness' by. He no longer makes it acceptable for us to be proud that we're not murderers. Jesus points us to that higher way, challenging us to not be content but to see the heart of how God wants us to live out our lives.

When the rich young ruler approaches Jesus, he's probably thinking that he's doing well by keeping the commandments. He may be expecting praise, or expecting his position on the ladder to be confirmed. Instead, Jesus tells him to do something which will turn his life upside down. He tells him to sell everything and give it to the poor. Everything. Seems harsh doesn't it?

Jesus says that it's 'easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.' I've read theological arguments around this about whether the eye of a needle is a gate, and quite frankly, I don't care. We can over-analyse something because we don't like what it says. I think this is what we do here. We read this statement and we don't like it. I don't like it. It calls me to a higher way of dealing with my money. I want a nicer car. I want better clothes. I want a nicer house. I want to follow Jesus. I want to take his words as truth. Therefore this is hard.

Of all the passages we seek to ignore from Jesus, most of them involve wealth. We reason that it's not practical to give away all of our wealth to the poor and move on, missing the challenge. As we look at the lives of Jesus and the disciples, we look at people who had no money. We look at men of faith who don't care about living for the financial rewards. The disciples were men who had jobs and in some cases, wives. They gave up that security for following Jesus. We often look for God’s blessings to be financial (and they can be), but that seems at odds with so much Jesus said and what we see from the lives of the apostles.

We love Jesus and admire the disciples, but often long to be able to spend most of our money on ourselves. After all, it is ours. A great person to read on the area of what it means to follow Christ with your finances is a guy called Shane Claiborne. I warn you though; it's challenging, life-changing stuff.

It's a hard teaching. But just because we can't give all our wealth away doesn't mean we shouldn't take a regular, serious look at what we do with our money. A person I really respect recently said to me that there will always be another mouth to feed. While that may well be true, I don't think it's a good enough attitude to take. I don't believe it is the attitude Jesus would take.

Today, I urge you to look at your finances. Sit down, look through your bank statements, and see where your money goes. I’ve done this and it’s been a tough reality. I look at the spending I make on lunch or coffee, compared to what I do to actually change the lives of people who have very little and it’s embarrassing. Shameful, even.

As you do this, ask yourself what Jesus would do with your money. That is a tough question, but pray about it, wrestle with it, and most of all, determine to do it. We have a great responsibility by living in the western world. Let’s make sure we take that responsibility seriously, rather than just turn the page and pretend that Jesus never talked about any of this.