Teague Bible Church

 

James 1:9-11   Feeling Good  About Your High Position

 

Question: Would you walk away from a job paying 625,000 per year?

 

The John Moffitt Story

 

Text Intro: James has four passages on money.

 

16 of 38 parables about money

 

1 of 10 verses in the gospels; 288 total; deal directly about money

 

Entire Bible has; 500 verses on prayer / 500 on faith ;

but more than 2000 on money or possessions

 

George Barna reports,,,

 

50% of Christians consider money the primary indicator of success

 

19% of Christians believe you can tell how successful a person is by examining

WHAT they own.

 

TEXT:   READ  James 1:9-11  ************************

 

 

God really gives more than the poor man lacks; or the rich man possesses

 

Question: What do you think rich “feels” like?

 

(I did not ask what rich looks like; that’s easy; it is having more than

you can possibly use)

 

Rich looks like:   ***********

 

Freedom to buy/ travel/ for leisure time

 

Power to get your way

 

Security and safety

 

Fame and being the envy of others

 

Respect and honor

 

Giving to charity = You are seen as generous; even when you may only be giving

from your excess

 

Do the rich always “feel” rich, and on top of the world ?   Apparently not.

 

Think of all the magnates, actors, musicians, professional athletes, and politicians who cover the news every day who have miserable lives, and yet they lack nothing materially.

 

 

I feel most sorrow for those who are deceived;

 

The worst materialist the world has ever known? The super rich? NO!

 

The average person who thinks he can imagine that rich will make

    him “feel” complete!

 

We continually get fooled on how a certain set of circumstances will feel

   once we acquire them

 

Ex- Star Trek– Spock is to get married- Bride chosen since birth-

Another man manipulates to take her away with the bride’s blessing

Both men are fine men, but the wife is a horrible person,

Both men now realize how terrible it will be to be married to evil person

 

Spock, after he gives her up- speaking to soon-to-be husband ;

 

“You may find that the wanting is better than the having”  (or words to that effect)

 

The problem with wanting to get rich is you imagine how it will make you feel; you dream about it; and all the while you are already rich in Christ but refuse to look into it because you may have to stand apart from your friends and family to live it out.

 

The problem with wanting to get rich is it infects your identity; your personality.

 

READ Matthew 6: 19-21

 

Your “heart” is the very core of your eternal being! It is all that remains after this life.

 

The real misery is you sell out your family time; your church; relationships; all for money. Even as you increase the money you make; it never feels like enough!

 

Example: Read or do verse 1,  and chorus of

“In The Palm Of Your Hand”- Allison Krauss

Particularly the line-    “ then life was torn from me

 

 

READ  I Timothy 6: 7-10

      About 35 years after Paul wrote this letter this happened,,,,,,,

Example: Show pictures of Pompeii-

 

Question:  Do you know what these are?

These are plaster cast of real human bodies destroyed in a volcanic eruption in 79 A.D.

 

We saw the exhibit a few years ago and it was eerie walking around these bodies.

Mt. Vesuvius went off and the town of Pompeii was destroyed instantly!

 

The art work and frescos so nasty that you are not allowed to take children in. They adore Priapus; god of sex and fertility.  10,000 die that day

 

They were killed by the heat, as ash 13-20 feet thick covered the town. Heat of 482 degrees! (They used to think they choked from the dust, but the cast speak a different story.)

 

Story of woman grasping for a bag of pearls. Now frozen in time- all about money!

 

Feet toward freedom of the city gate to escape; her hands turned back toward a bag of pearls.

 

 

Final: How to “fee” really rich, and that wealth based on historical facts? Even when you are not rich, by this world’s standards?

 

 

“On This Day” Devotional book; December 17

 

  READ:  BORDEN STORY

 

 

Final thoughts:

 

Our great witness, in these hard economic times, is to walk among the disappointed- seekers- of- riches; and let them see what it means to be content by having and living within the riches of Christ.

 

Could they see and hear in you, that you are context? Could you desire for them that they FEEL like you do?

 

How do you FEEL about your life right at this moment?

 

If your body and mind and heart we frozen in time for all to see, would they say you were context and lived a rich life in Christ?

 

 Do you FEEL rich or lacking?