I thought you were going to quote scriptures to proof your argument! Just siting that this or that didn't have it, makes no point. The whole bible is full of passages that speak of us having wealth. Abraham, David, Solomon etc were rich!!
The most popular bible characters had wealth, but out of the hundreds of bible characters which are involved with the writing, living, and carrying out of God's word you can count all the rich characters on one hand. You mentioned Abraham, David, Solomon, I will ad Moses and Paul. We might consider Isaac, Jacob, Joseph too, but they inherited what they got from Abraham. What I am getting at is the fact that even Jesus lived in extreme poverty, and the verse that proves it is Matthew:8:20: "And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Jesus didn't even have a house to live in. Jesus is our example in ALL things. He is out ONLY pattern to imitate. Certainly the rich characters in the bible did support the ministry, as we read about Abraham giving tithes to Melchizedek king of salem. Even throughout the new testament we read scriptures like this, Matthew:19:29: "And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." When Jesus teaches, ALL His lessons are spiritual, He is referring to spiritual blessings, and believe me the spiritual blessings are enormous when we live Jesus life by faith.
BUT here is the crux of the biscuit. What did Jesus say to the rich young ruler??? Luke:18:22: "Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me." Or how about this one, Matthew:19:24: "And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." To most people riches are a curse. IF the church were actually Jesus church there would be nobody starving to death. Jesus said we will always have the poor with us, but not the starving to death. The poor are the great test for those who have the means to help them. It was never intended for governments to give handouts to the needy.
In fact the Lord Himself taught much about wealth(positively) during His earthly ministry!
Not necessarily. Please find one verse where Jesus spoke positively about gaining wealth. Quite contrary is the fact that it will be almost impossible for a rich person to enter heaven as quoted above from Matthew 19:24. The reason for poverty and adversity is so we can constantly realize our need and do what Paul did whet he wrote in 1Corinthians:15:31: "I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily." We, as Christians MUST die daily to the worldliness and sin through confession and repentance daily.
Father God is looking for a matured believer who understands the purpose of wealth so as to entrust him with wealth for the running of His Kingdom!
IF we follow the true Christians throughout time we will find that faith in Christ ONLY grows during adversity and more so during persecution. Never does faith grow during prosperity. The church might seem to grow but this is a facade. Most who attend church during times of peace are trying to have a feel good religion which does not exist. we are told by Paul in 2Corinthians:7:10: "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." The ONLY way to Christ is through a broken and contrite heart. Read what David said about it in Psalms:34:18: "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."Psalms:51:17: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." God only saves those of a contrite spirit, and a broken heart. When we are rich we have no need of repentance, we have all we need. Like John wrote in revelation about the Laodicean condition, which is the condition of God's church today, Revelation:3:15: "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:" God's people today know not their condition. We believe we are increased with goods, and have need of nothing. This does not only apply to worldly wealth but spiritual knowledge especially. Bibles are freely distributed almost the world over, and we are still here. Jesus said in Matthew 14:14 that the gospel will be preached in all the world then He will come. God is waiting for us, and professed Christianity (churchianity) is claiming to be waiting for something else like some falsehood called the "rapture". If we are waiting for this rapture to take place we will be lost because when it does happen, all Christians must be ready. And by ready I mean like the disciples were on the day of pentecost Acts chapter 1&2. Study that and understand the unity needed before Jesus can come and take His church home. Like Paul wrote in 1Corinthians:1:10: "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." The only way this principle is lived up to is by applying the solution to the Laodicean problem and that is Revelation:3:18: "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." This has nothing to do with worldly wealth. The gold tried in the fire is the faith that works by love, and cometh by hearing the word of God. The white raiment is the righteousness of Christ. And the anointing salve is the Holy Spirit without which we cannot understand any of this. That is why it is so hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom. I can supply bible verses for these definitions if interested.
Revelation:3:19: "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.." We MUST stop letting our pride get offended because the Lord uses His instruments to reprove us. Reproof shows that we love each other as long as it is done in the spirit of love.
