Sunday 1st August - 9th after Trinity (green)
Theme: God's riches
Readings: Colossians 2:6-15
Hosea 11:1-11 Luke 12:13-21 Ps 49
Theme: God's riches
Readings: Colossians 2:6-15
Hosea 11:1-11 Luke 12:13-21 Ps 49
Collect:
Gracious Father,
revive your Church in our day,
and make her holy, strong and faithful,
for your glory's sake
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Comment
Are you rich towards God? If not, you are in deep trouble, however fulfilling your life is at the moment.
This is not a message people want to hear today. It was even less popular when Jesus first said it. In his culture riches were a sign of God’s blessing, so if you had ‘an abundance of possessions’ you were thought to be well off both materially and spiritually.
The speaker was concerned about his inheritance. Jewish laws covered most cases of succession, but obviously he thought an injustice had been done in his case, and he wanted this Rabbi to do what other rabbis did and make a legal decision – in his favour, of course. He may well have had justice on his side, but Jesus had more important concerns.
The big issue that Jesus focuses on is that of true wealth. The only wealth that ultimately matters is that which God values – and wants us to possess for ever. Jesus spoke about this many times, and this parable sums up his teaching. Earthly riches – and their associated comforts and pleasures – do not impress God, and have a tendency to choke our relationship with him as weeds choke growing corn. They are not bad in themselves, but if we have them they only benefit us if we use them wisely, to become ‘rich towards God’.
Paul tells Timothy what we must do (1 Timothy 6:17-19). We must first learn not to depend on our wealth for security or future well-being.
Instead, we must depend on God – he is the one who looks after us all.
God does not give each person a private bag of resources, just for ourselves; he wants us to share what he gives us with those around and be generous with our time and resources. In that way, says Paul, we build up treasure for the coming age.
God will reward his people. In the coming ages he will ‘show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 2:7). We will be living in a perfect world, enjoying all that our generous God has in store for us. But that is not our main treasure. From God’s point of view, the greatest treasure is the kind of people we will be, with characters formed from choices made and attitudes developed in this life through his Spirit, then made perfect. From our point of view, the greatest treasure will be the privilege of living in the presence of God our Father as his children, because of Jesus.
The wealth and glory this world has to offer is nothing compared to what God wants for us. What do we want?
Gracious Father,
revive your Church in our day,
and make her holy, strong and faithful,
for your glory's sake
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Comment
Are you rich towards God? If not, you are in deep trouble, however fulfilling your life is at the moment.
This is not a message people want to hear today. It was even less popular when Jesus first said it. In his culture riches were a sign of God’s blessing, so if you had ‘an abundance of possessions’ you were thought to be well off both materially and spiritually.
The speaker was concerned about his inheritance. Jewish laws covered most cases of succession, but obviously he thought an injustice had been done in his case, and he wanted this Rabbi to do what other rabbis did and make a legal decision – in his favour, of course. He may well have had justice on his side, but Jesus had more important concerns.
The big issue that Jesus focuses on is that of true wealth. The only wealth that ultimately matters is that which God values – and wants us to possess for ever. Jesus spoke about this many times, and this parable sums up his teaching. Earthly riches – and their associated comforts and pleasures – do not impress God, and have a tendency to choke our relationship with him as weeds choke growing corn. They are not bad in themselves, but if we have them they only benefit us if we use them wisely, to become ‘rich towards God’.
Paul tells Timothy what we must do (1 Timothy 6:17-19). We must first learn not to depend on our wealth for security or future well-being.
Instead, we must depend on God – he is the one who looks after us all.
God does not give each person a private bag of resources, just for ourselves; he wants us to share what he gives us with those around and be generous with our time and resources. In that way, says Paul, we build up treasure for the coming age.
God will reward his people. In the coming ages he will ‘show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 2:7). We will be living in a perfect world, enjoying all that our generous God has in store for us. But that is not our main treasure. From God’s point of view, the greatest treasure is the kind of people we will be, with characters formed from choices made and attitudes developed in this life through his Spirit, then made perfect. From our point of view, the greatest treasure will be the privilege of living in the presence of God our Father as his children, because of Jesus.
The wealth and glory this world has to offer is nothing compared to what God wants for us. What do we want?
Questions
1) What kinds of greed do we need to guard against in today’s world?
2) How can we truly become rich?
1) What kinds of greed do we need to guard against in today’s world?
2) How can we truly become rich?
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