This generation wants to be rich and famous. They believe that if they have everything that they ever desired that this will fulfill them. What they do not realize is that in every person on this planet whether rich or poor, they have a God shaped hole in them that only God can fill. No possession in the world can fill this hole in their soul. No matter what they own or whatever experience they do or achieve nothing will fill that God shaped hole in their soul. Only by receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will fill this God shaped hole, for that is how we are designed, by our Creator.
On the subject of wealth, I once desired to be wealthy, until I put together this particular study. Once I put together all of the Scriptures on this subject and read them back to back, I realized that the LORD does not have a lot of good to say about wealth. What He does say about it, is that it is going to be a testimony against us on judgment day, that it is going to eat away at our flesh in hell, if that is where we are going.
We see that throughout this study that the LORD looks at the motives behind acquiring this wealth that He is talking about. He speaks about murder and cheating people of their wages, that the wealthy become arrogant and proud, that they devour people who cannot defend themselves. The Scriptures speak about how sometimes the LORD will allow them to acquire the wealth, then not give them the health to enjoy it. Wealth can be deceptive, we need to ask the LORD for wisdom to use the wealth that He has given to us for His benefit and our benefit. So that on judgment day, He can say “Well done faithful servant.”
I do not believe that if you are wealthy that this is a bad thing. On the contrary, God blessed a lot of His children throughout Scripture. But how you acquire wealth and how you spend your wealth is the test. We need to always ask ourselves if we are doing the right thing. I spoke to a pastor years ago that did prison ministry and he was a former mobster who had a lot of money when he came to Christ. Now he knew that the money was not acquired the right way, for it was acquire through mob activities and he did not know what to do with all of it at that time. So what he did was packed it all up and flew to India and built a whole bunch of schools and orphanages for the children. Now that is a guy who understood how to better his accountability on judgment day when it came to the wealth that the LORD let him acquire. I am sure that this bettered his status sheet on judgment day. Well, I hope that this study shows you how the LORD looks at wealth and that the LORD blesses you with wisdom of how to use it. I pray that you also read the study on the rich and the poor and that God truly gives you understanding of how to use whatever He has given to you to steward, for stewardship is the second biggest subject in the Bible, the first biggest subject is Jesus. May God Bless You and keep you and may God Bless you with more wealth if you are using it wisely, in Jesus name, Amen!!!
Wealth: n. much money or property; riches.
Habakkuk 2:12-14
“How terrible it will be for you who build cities with money gained by murder and corruption! Has not the LORD Almighty promised that the wealth of nations will turn to ashes? They work so hard, but all in vain! For the time will come when all the earth will be filled, as the waters fill the sea, with an awareness of the glory of the LORD.
Habakkuk 2:4-8
“Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked; but the righteous will live by faith. Wealth is treacherous, and the arrogant are never at rest. They range far and wide, with their mouths opened as wide as death, but they are never satisfied. In their greed they have gathered up many nations and people. But the time is coming when all their captives will taunt them, saying, ‘You thieves! At last justice has caught up with you! Now you will get what you deserve for your oppression and extortion!’ Suddenly, your debtors will rise up in anger. They will turn on you and take all you have, while you stand trembling and helpless. You have plundered many nations; now they will plunder you. You murderers! You have filled the countryside with violence and all the cities, too.
Habakkuk 2:9-11
“How terrible it will be for you who get rich by unjust means! You believe your wealth will buy you security, putting your families beyond the reach of danger. But by the murders you committed, you have shamed your name and forfeited your lives. The very stones in the walls of your houses cry out against you, and the beams in the ceilings echo the complaint.
Ecclesiastes 5:10-15
Those who love money will never have enough. How absurd to think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what is the advantage of wealth – except perhaps to watch it run through your fingers!
People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich are always worrying and seldom get a good night’s sleep.
There is another serious problem I have seen in the world. Riches are sometimes hoarded to the harm of the saver, or they are put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one’s children.
People who live only for wealth come to the end of their lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day they were born.
Ecclesiastes 5:19-20
And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life – that is indeed a gift from God. People who do this rarely look with sorrow on the past, for God has given them reasons for joy.
Ecclesiastes 6:1-2
There is another serious tragedy I have seen in our world. God gives great wealth and honor to some people and gives them everything they could ever want, but then he doesn’t give them the health to enjoy it. They die, and others get it all! This is meaningless – a sickening tragedy.
Ecclesiastes 7:14
Enjoy prosperity while you can. But when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. That way you will realize that nothing is certain in this life.
Matthew 6:19-21
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be.
Matthew 6:24
“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to on and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Proverbs 19:4
Wealth make many “friends”; poverty drives them away.
Proverbs 19:14
Parents can provide their sons with an inheritance of houses and wealth, but only the LORD can give an understanding wife.
Luke 16:1-9
Jesus told this story to his disciples: “A rich man hired a manager to handle his affairs, but soon a rumor went around that the manager was thoroughly dishonest. So his employer called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about your stealing from me? Get your report in order, because you are going to be dismissed.
“The manager thought to himself, ‘Now what? I’m through here, and I don’t have the strength to go out and dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg. I know just the thing! And then I’ll have plenty of friends to take care of me when I leave!’
“So he invited each person who owed money to his employer to come and discuss the situation. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe him?’ The man replied, ‘I owe him eight hundred gallons of olive oil. So the manager told him, ‘Tear up that bill and write another one for four hundred gallons.’
“And how much do you owe my employer?” he asked the next man, ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ was the reply. ‘Here,’ the manager said, ‘take your bill and replace it with one for only eight hundred bushels.’
“The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the citizens of this world are more shrewd than the godly are. I tell you, use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. In this way, your generosity stores up a reward for you in heaven.”
Luke 16:10-13
“Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won’t be faithful in large ones. If you cheat even a little, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s money, why should you be trusted with money of your own?
“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Luke 6:24-25
What sorrows await you who are satisfied and prosperous now, for a time of awful hunger is before you. What sorrows await you who are satisfied and prosperous now, for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow.
Proverbs 15:16
It is better to have little with fear of the LORD than to have great treasure with turmoil.
Proverbs 11:4
Riches won’t help on the day of judgment, but right living is a safeguard against death.
Proverbs 11:24
It is possible to give freely and become more wealthy, but those who are stingy will lose everything.
Proverbs 13:11
Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows.
Proverbs 13:22
Good people leave an inheritance to their grandchildren, but the sinner’s wealth passes on to the godly.
Proverbs 14:24
Wealth is a crown for the wise; the effort of fools yields only folly.
James 1:9-11
Christians who are poor should be glad, for God has honored them. And those who are rich should be glad, for God has humbled them. They will fade away like a flower in the field. The hot sun rises and dries up the grass; the flower withers, and its beauty fades away. So also, wealthy people will fade away with all of their achievements.
James 5:1-6
Look here, you rich people, weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. Your gold and silver have become worthless. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh in hell. This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment. For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.
You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every whim. Now your hearts are nice and fat, ready for the slaughter. You have condemned and killed good people who had no power to defend themselves against you.
Ezekiel 28:1-10
This message came to me from the LORD: “Son of man, give the prince of Tyre this message from the Sovereign LORD: In your great pride you claim, ‘I am a god! I sit on a divine throne in the heart of the sea.’ But you are only a man and not a god, though you boast that you are like a god. You regard yourself as wiser than Daniel and think no secret is hidden from you. With your wisdom and understanding you have amassed great wealth – gold and silver for your treasuries. Yes, your wisdom has made you very rich, and your riches have made you very proud.
“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you think you are as wise as a god, I will bring against you an enemy army, the terror of the nations. They will suddenly draw their swords against your marvelous wisdom and defile your splendor! They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die there on your island home in the heart of the sea, pierced with many wounds. Will you then boast, ‘I am a god!’ to those who kill you? To them you will be no god but merely a man! You will die like an outcast at the hands of foreigners. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!”