Anyone who truly believes and obeys Jesus’ teachings is his disciple. A true follower of Jesus is meant to assist the poor and make friends with his earthly possessions/money in order to spread the gospel. He is meant to give away his earthly wealth instead of amassing it or spending it on himself. As a man of God or disciple/follower of Jesus, we are meant to give up all of our possessions.
Luke 21:1-4 – As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
Mark 12:44 – They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
In this way, we are meant to sell our possessions and give the money to the poor, widows and orphans, while preaching the gospel. A disciple of Jesus is also meant to spend his time seeking and keeping the Holy Spirit in his life, while preaching the gospel to everyone that crosses his path. He is not meant to seek after money and education (the wisdom of this world), but rather the wisdom of above, which is the teachings of Jesus.
Jesus speaks of his disciples giving up their money and possessions:
Luke 14:33 – So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
Luke 12:33 – Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
We are meant to give away our money and possessions, not amass and keep them.
Matthew 6:19-21 & 24 – “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
We must be devoted to God through living our lives according to the teachings of Jesus and not according to the world, like Pagans, who seek after money and worry about what they will eat, drink and wear.
Matthew 6:25-34 -“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Jesus is telling us to love God by living according to the teachings of Jesus and spending our time teaching them to others, instead of spending our time here on earth, toiling for food and drink.
John 6:27 – Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
Luke 12:22-32 – Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jesus is telling his disciples not to waste their lives seeking and toiling for money, possessions, even food and clothing. For this is what the Pagans do. We are meant to spend our time seeking the Holy Spirit in our lives and spreading the gospel. God will add all of the things He knows we need unto us. If we put the seeking of the Holy Spirit first priority in our lives, above even eating and drinking, God will add all that we need to us (God will provide). We must have faith in this concept.
Matthew 6:28 – “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
We are not meant to save our money greedily.
Matthew 6:25-27 – 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
We are meant to give to anyone who asks of us, without question.
Luke 6:30 – Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.
Matthew 5:42 – Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
As followers of Jesus, we are meant to help the poor, widows and orphans. We are meant to make friends with these people, using our money, possessions and resources (wordly/unrighteous wealth).
Luke 14:12-14 – Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
This concept can be found throughout the New Testament:
1 John 3:17 – If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
James 2:14-17 – What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
And also in the Old Testament:
Proverbs 28:27 – Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.
Proverbs 21:13 – Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered.
Proverbs 22:16 – One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty.
Job 29:11-12 – Whoever heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me commended me, 12 because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist them.
Jesus specifically speaks of this:
Luke 16: 9-13 – I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
10“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
13“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
The ‘world’s’ wealth is our money and possessions and ‘true’ riches are the Holy Spirit. Jesus is stating that unless we give away our money to the poor, make friends and preach the gospel, we cannot receive the Holy Spirit. God will not entrust us with true riches (the Holy Spirit) if we have not been faithful with worldly wealth.
Luke 16:10-11 – “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
By ‘faithful’, Jesus is referring to those who give their wealth away to the poor to make friends with it in order to preach the gospel to them. We can either spend our lives seeking after money and possessions for ourselves, or following Jesus’ teachings by giving up our possessions, selling them and giving them to the poor – but we cannot do both.
Luke 16:13 – “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Upon hearing this message, it is important not to react as the Pharisees did in:
Luke 16:14 – The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.
Jesus explains that we should not measure our success in life by how much wealth and possessions we have accumulated. Our success should be measured by how much we have given away.
Luke 12:13-21 – Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
Jesus is stating that true eternal life has nothing to do with the accumulation of possessions. Life, as per the kingdom of heaven, is not measured by how much money and possessions you have accumulated, but rather how much you gave away. The one who seeks, accumulates and trusts in possessions on this earth is considered a ‘fool’ by the standards of the kingdom of heaven.
Cont’d – 16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
As we can see, this man did what most Christians are doing. He is considered ‘smart’ by the world’s standards, which is to plan, toil for and accumulate wealth.
But God considered this man to be a fool.
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
To be rich towards God is to give away your money in support of spreading the gospel. We are to gain spiritual wealth by becoming like Jesus in spirit. Believers should become rich towards God, by making friends and helping the poor, orphans and widows. We are investing in an eternal age, where our reward will never run out. What many Christians are doing instead, is accumulating wealth and investing in this temporary world with possessions. They expect to enter the kingdom of heaven but this is not possible.
Luke 16:13 – “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
As Christians and followers of Christ, we are all meant to spread the gospel around the world.
Mark 16:15-16 – 15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Matthew 28:18-20 – Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
We must stop seeking the knowledge of this world and begin seeking the wisdom from above. To do this, you must first become a fool in the things of this world, meaning unlearn the useless, temporary knowledge of this world (like the things we learn in college) and begin learning the wisdom from above through Jesus’ teachings.
Paul speaks of giving up the wisdom of this world:
1 Corinthians 3: 1, 18-20 – Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ…Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”
Philippians 3:7-8 – But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ…
1 Corinthians 2:6-8 & 13-14 – Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; 7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;..13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
14 But a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
John also speaks of this:
1 John 4:5-6 – They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
Jesus’ teachings are not of this world’s philosophies. We must give up the world’s ways for the ways of Jesus. Jesus is not of this world and he states that neither are we.
John 8:23 – But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
John 3:31 – The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
John 15:19 – If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
John 17:14 – I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
John 17:16 – They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
John 18:36 – Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
Christians must not act as the rest of the world acts. This would make us friends with the world.
We must use the resources we have to further the kingdom of God, by preaching the Gospel, and assisting the poor, orphans and widows. Not allowing the world to pollute our beliefs in Jesus. We must spend our short time on earth achieving these things. All the while, we must seek to maintain the Holy Spirit in our lives by not allowing the inevitable suffering that comes from living this kind of life, which will constantly tempt us to compromise and manipulate the word to end this suffering and therefore, lose our integrity.
We must spend our short time on earth preaching the truth to others. We must give away our money and possessions in the pursuit of spreading the gospel and helping the poor.
You may not be able to do this right away or even all at once, but it is important to know what Jesus’s standards are (which is to give up all) in order to be considered his follower and keep the “bar” raised.
Luke 14:33 – In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
Luke 12:33 – Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
Luke 16:9 – I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
Even if it is unattainable for you. You are better off believing and agreeing that Jesus said to give up all and not seek after money, than to reject his teaching entirely and say that he did not mean this. Doing so would be blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 3: 23-24 – For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
There is no unforgiveness in not being able to attain Jesus’ high standards of giving up all and living by faith, as we have all committed this sin in one form or another. The true unforgivable sin is in denying that Jesus even said this, by manipulating and compromising his words due to a lack of faith. This would be ‘walking in the darkness’.
1 John 1:5-7 – This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
It is required of everyone who wishes to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The grace we are given and saved by is being able to repent and admit that we are not living according to Jesus’s teachings and ask for forgiveness for our lack of faith.
1 John 1:8-10 – If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
But if we manipulate this to make it seem that we are not doing anything wrong by continuing in our quest for higher education and money, then we have stepped out of God’s grace and are blaspheming the Holy Spirit which is the only unforgivable sin in this age and the next.
Matthew 12:31 – And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
Mark 3:28-29 – Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
Luke 12:10 – And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
Neither Jesus nor any of his disciples lived to pursue money:
Matthew 19:27 – Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
Matthew 4:20 – At once they left their nets and followed him.
Luke 5:11 – So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
Matthew 4:21-22 – Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Mark 1:16-20 – As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
Matthew 9:9 – As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
Or higher education:
Acts 4:13 – Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
John 7:15 – And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?”
Even Paul, who was a student under Gamaliel, speaks of throwing it all away. Meaning, to unlearn it in order to receive Christ Jesus’ teachings.
Philippians 3:7-8 – But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ…
Paul also speaks of this concept of not allowing greed/the love of money to infect our understanding of God’s word and our purpose as Christians.
Hebrews 6:4-8 – It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. 7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. 8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.
The land that produces thorns and thistles are referring to those who manipulate the word or God, out of their love for money.
Luke 8:14 – The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.
Matthew 13:22 – The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Mark 4:18-19 – The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
God’s wish is for all of us to seek the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness by keeping right from wrong and not blurring those lines.
Isaiah 5:20 – Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness,who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.And to know that the seeking of money, the knowledge of this world and riches is wrong. This is precisely what all the unbelievers are doing with their lives. What would be the difference between a believer and unbeliever?
James 1:27 – Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 4:4 – You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
We must not allow the world’s ways and philosophies to pollute our beliefs about Jesus. Jesus stated that he is not of this world and that neither are his followers. Although we are ‘in’ this world, we are not ‘of’ the world, meaning we do not live according to their philosophies.
John 17:14 & 16 – I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world…16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
Jesus referred to his followers as ‘the light of the world’, which means that we must not act as the rest of the world acts. Doing so would make us friends of the world. Contrary to how the world acts, as followers of Jesus, we must use the resources we have in this life, to further the kingdom of God. We do this by preaching the gospel, assisting the poor, orphans and widows and spending our short time on earth achieving these things. Of course, living as a follower of Jesus is not without its hardships. Living a life of servitude comes with its own set of challenges and suffering. In spite of the suffering that comes from living this kind of life, we must seek to maintain the Holy Spirit in our lives. We achieve this by not allowing our suffering and hardships to cause us to compromise and manipulate the word of God to end our suffering and therefore, lose our integrity.
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