APOSTOLIC ACTING OUT
TO BE RICH OR TO BE POOR? THAT IS THE QUESTION.
Scripture text – Job 27:1-23.
Job shows in his speeches that he may have been perfect and all was well with his life and with God, but when travail and hardships came upon him, and yet he still stuck with God and never strayed, that he proved that no one can go thru life without a trial and during his trials, he proved to his rebellious friends how good God was going to be even before He was and Job was just a real life example of how if someone would gain the whole world and lose his soul is worth less than suffering your whole life while serving God while keeping your soul saved during the short time that life brings and when we die, the rich in this world will be poor and hurting eternally, while the poor in this world that are rich in Christ, will be rich and happy eternally.
Psalm 37:16 – “16A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.” Now this is obviously talking about worldly riches. So we ask, “Why is it better not to have a lot?” For one thing, that is just more that can distract you away from God or take the place of God. This points back to the very first of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:3 – “3Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” But preacher, these things are not gods; they are for entertainment and pleasure. First of all, whatever you spend the most of your time with, unless it is an occupation, is your god. Second of all, in Psalm 37:4 – “4Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” So what is the literal definition of a god? Is a god not something that we worship? So what does it mean to worship? An act of reverence; giving your service, devotion, and time to. Right? So are worldly possessions gods? If they take the place of God then they are.
Proverbs 13:7 – “7There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.” Now we are on the spiritual side. The TAB says it more clear when it says, “7One man considers himself rich, yet has nothing [to keep permanently]: another man considers himself poor, yet has great [and indestructible] riches.” If we are rich in this world, how long will we keep those riches? 70, 80, 90, maybe 100 years at the most? And the same thing if we are poor; how long will we be poor and how long will our famine last? About the same amount of time as the rich person’s riches will last, right? However, there is one thing that the poor can get even while they are poor in this world that the rich man does not have need of, he thinks. Matthew 19:16-26 is the story of the rich young ruler. Jesus is basically saying, “If you want to be a part of the kingdom of heaven, it’s yours, you just gotta get rid of all that stuff.” But instead of saying ok, instead of maybe trying to reason with Jesus about keeping his stuff and still getting saved; by the way, you cannot receive anything from God if your hands are too full with riches, cares of this world, worries, hurts, grudges, doubts, fears, bitterness, envy, jealousy, strife, hatred, anger, selfishness, enmity, and whatever else is in your hands because you won’t have any room for anything from God because your hands are too full already and you won’t let it go. Instead of the young ruler letting everything go and inheriting Godly riches, he just refused them and let his riches be his god.
Someone might think, “Well, if I’m poor in this world, then that means I won’t be able to enjoy this life.” Hey, guess what? If you are poor in this world and you are rich in Jesus, you will enjoy life because you will have all of these Godly and heavenly riches: love, joy, peace, happiness, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, meekness, humility, self-control, no cares of this world but blessings of God. 1 John 4:18 – “18There is no fear in love: but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” When you let go of your fears, doubts, worries, etc., God’s love will cast it out if you give it to Him.
Proverbs 28:6 – “6Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich.” Oh, how the world thinks otherwise. Especially with all of these celebrities and professional athletes breaking the law left and right. What always gets them out of it? Not justice. It is money. It is not a shock at all that they are taking the Ten Commandments out of the courts. Because they know that law and justice do not run this country anymore, money does. Therefore, this world is starting to believe that if they can get money, they can do anything. Even when they put these people on “trial” when everyone knows what the outcome is going to be, they are making money by it being televised. So you can go on a killing spree or a raping rampage and as long as you can make the $100 thousand bail, you are good, or so you think. Matthew 16:26 – “26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” This world thinks they can buy their way out of everything, but you cannot buy your way out of hell!
1 Timothy 6:7-10 – “7For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 9But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition, 10For the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
There was a story I heard one time about an evangelist who was preaching in one of the Latin American countries and he had this translator named Johnny and while he preached, Johnny would preach right along with him translating every word he said and he would get excited and Johnny would get excited and he would run across the platform and Johnny would run across the platform and at the altar he would begin praying for someone thru to the Holy Ghost and Johnny would be translating in the other ear every single word that he would pray to them and the evangelist knew that there was an awesome anointing on Johnny. Then about two years or so later the evangelist settled into a church to pastor and one night from the pulpit he saw Johnny come thru the door and he went to meet Johnny. Now Johnny had grown his hair out quite a bit and had some very fancy, spiffy clothes on. The evangelist started telling Johnny that he needed to turn his life back to God and Johnny said, “Yes, I know that but I can’t do it today; I can’t do it right now.” As he was speaking he pulled out a wad of cash out of his pocket big enough to choke a hippo with a rubber-band around it and he put it back in his pocket and Johnny led him to the door outside and there was a brand new shiny Cadillac sitting out there and Johnny said, “I have so much money. I finally have a real good paying job and I have so many friends. I can’t turn all of that over to God yet; not right now.” Less than a month later the evangelist got a phone call from Johnny’s hometown Pastor at about one, two, three in the morning and the pastor said, “Something terrible has happened to Johnny.” The evangelist said, “What? What has happened to Johnny?” The Pastor said, “Johnny was driving down the road in his new Cadillac and he picked up a rider and about ½ a mile down the road the rider reached in his pocket, pulled out a .357, put the barrel to Johnny’s head and pulled the trigger and killed Johnny on the spot.”
Another one that the devil had tricked into thinking that money is the way out, that being rich was the way to be. James 1:9-11 – “9Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: 10But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 11For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.” The treasures here on earth will not last. The treasures of heaven not only endure thru this life, but you will have them in the next life for all of eternity.
Revelation 3:17 – “17Because 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:” Jesus is saying, that, yeah you maybe rich and have everything that you want in this world, but inside you are so empty. A black hole has seen more light than you have.
In closing, as we go back to Job 42:10-17, I am here to tell you to consider the questions – To be rich, or not to be rich; to be poor, or not to be poor. I am here to tell you that you can be both. You can be rich in this world and poor in the Spirit or you can be rich in the Spirit and poor in this world. The choice is yours. As we read Job 42:10-17 – “10And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. 12So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. 13He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch. 15And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. 16After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations. 17So Job died, being old and full of days.” This just proves that we may feel poor physically when we are rich spiritually, but God will provide for us and will give us what we want as it says in Psalm 37:4 – “4Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
Job shows in his speeches that he may have been perfect and all was well with his life and with God, but when travail and hardships came upon him, and yet he still stuck with God and never strayed, that he proved that no one can go thru life without a trial and during his trials, he proved to his rebellious friends how good God was going to be even before He was and Job was just a real life example of how if someone would gain the whole world and lose his soul is worth less than suffering your whole life while serving God while keeping your soul saved during the short time that life brings and when we die, the rich in this world will be poor and hurting eternally, while the poor in this world that are rich in Christ, will be rich and happy eternally.
Psalm 37:16 – “16A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.” Now this is obviously talking about worldly riches. So we ask, “Why is it better not to have a lot?” For one thing, that is just more that can distract you away from God or take the place of God. This points back to the very first of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:3 – “3Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” But preacher, these things are not gods; they are for entertainment and pleasure. First of all, whatever you spend the most of your time with, unless it is an occupation, is your god. Second of all, in Psalm 37:4 – “4Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” So what is the literal definition of a god? Is a god not something that we worship? So what does it mean to worship? An act of reverence; giving your service, devotion, and time to. Right? So are worldly possessions gods? If they take the place of God then they are.
Proverbs 13:7 – “7There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.” Now we are on the spiritual side. The TAB says it more clear when it says, “7One man considers himself rich, yet has nothing [to keep permanently]: another man considers himself poor, yet has great [and indestructible] riches.” If we are rich in this world, how long will we keep those riches? 70, 80, 90, maybe 100 years at the most? And the same thing if we are poor; how long will we be poor and how long will our famine last? About the same amount of time as the rich person’s riches will last, right? However, there is one thing that the poor can get even while they are poor in this world that the rich man does not have need of, he thinks. Matthew 19:16-26 is the story of the rich young ruler. Jesus is basically saying, “If you want to be a part of the kingdom of heaven, it’s yours, you just gotta get rid of all that stuff.” But instead of saying ok, instead of maybe trying to reason with Jesus about keeping his stuff and still getting saved; by the way, you cannot receive anything from God if your hands are too full with riches, cares of this world, worries, hurts, grudges, doubts, fears, bitterness, envy, jealousy, strife, hatred, anger, selfishness, enmity, and whatever else is in your hands because you won’t have any room for anything from God because your hands are too full already and you won’t let it go. Instead of the young ruler letting everything go and inheriting Godly riches, he just refused them and let his riches be his god.
Someone might think, “Well, if I’m poor in this world, then that means I won’t be able to enjoy this life.” Hey, guess what? If you are poor in this world and you are rich in Jesus, you will enjoy life because you will have all of these Godly and heavenly riches: love, joy, peace, happiness, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, meekness, humility, self-control, no cares of this world but blessings of God. 1 John 4:18 – “18There is no fear in love: but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” When you let go of your fears, doubts, worries, etc., God’s love will cast it out if you give it to Him.
Proverbs 28:6 – “6Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich.” Oh, how the world thinks otherwise. Especially with all of these celebrities and professional athletes breaking the law left and right. What always gets them out of it? Not justice. It is money. It is not a shock at all that they are taking the Ten Commandments out of the courts. Because they know that law and justice do not run this country anymore, money does. Therefore, this world is starting to believe that if they can get money, they can do anything. Even when they put these people on “trial” when everyone knows what the outcome is going to be, they are making money by it being televised. So you can go on a killing spree or a raping rampage and as long as you can make the $100 thousand bail, you are good, or so you think. Matthew 16:26 – “26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” This world thinks they can buy their way out of everything, but you cannot buy your way out of hell!
1 Timothy 6:7-10 – “7For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 9But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition, 10For the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
There was a story I heard one time about an evangelist who was preaching in one of the Latin American countries and he had this translator named Johnny and while he preached, Johnny would preach right along with him translating every word he said and he would get excited and Johnny would get excited and he would run across the platform and Johnny would run across the platform and at the altar he would begin praying for someone thru to the Holy Ghost and Johnny would be translating in the other ear every single word that he would pray to them and the evangelist knew that there was an awesome anointing on Johnny. Then about two years or so later the evangelist settled into a church to pastor and one night from the pulpit he saw Johnny come thru the door and he went to meet Johnny. Now Johnny had grown his hair out quite a bit and had some very fancy, spiffy clothes on. The evangelist started telling Johnny that he needed to turn his life back to God and Johnny said, “Yes, I know that but I can’t do it today; I can’t do it right now.” As he was speaking he pulled out a wad of cash out of his pocket big enough to choke a hippo with a rubber-band around it and he put it back in his pocket and Johnny led him to the door outside and there was a brand new shiny Cadillac sitting out there and Johnny said, “I have so much money. I finally have a real good paying job and I have so many friends. I can’t turn all of that over to God yet; not right now.” Less than a month later the evangelist got a phone call from Johnny’s hometown Pastor at about one, two, three in the morning and the pastor said, “Something terrible has happened to Johnny.” The evangelist said, “What? What has happened to Johnny?” The Pastor said, “Johnny was driving down the road in his new Cadillac and he picked up a rider and about ½ a mile down the road the rider reached in his pocket, pulled out a .357, put the barrel to Johnny’s head and pulled the trigger and killed Johnny on the spot.”
Another one that the devil had tricked into thinking that money is the way out, that being rich was the way to be. James 1:9-11 – “9Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: 10But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 11For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.” The treasures here on earth will not last. The treasures of heaven not only endure thru this life, but you will have them in the next life for all of eternity.
Revelation 3:17 – “17Because 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:” Jesus is saying, that, yeah you maybe rich and have everything that you want in this world, but inside you are so empty. A black hole has seen more light than you have.
In closing, as we go back to Job 42:10-17, I am here to tell you to consider the questions – To be rich, or not to be rich; to be poor, or not to be poor. I am here to tell you that you can be both. You can be rich in this world and poor in the Spirit or you can be rich in the Spirit and poor in this world. The choice is yours. As we read Job 42:10-17 – “10And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. 12So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. 13He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch. 15And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. 16After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations. 17So Job died, being old and full of days.” This just proves that we may feel poor physically when we are rich spiritually, but God will provide for us and will give us what we want as it says in Psalm 37:4 – “4Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
