What the Bible says about Wealth, Lesson 1

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwmJCQqp7NQ

What the bible says about Money,

Lesson 1

Text: Genesis 4:3-7 “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. 4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. 6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”

Also: Genesis 14:18-24

Intro: in our last lesson, we looked at some of the central principles we will be examining during this study. One, is the fact, that when we say money, we are most often speaking of wealth, and that includes not only things, but the ability to obtain things. Many of the illustrations we look at is more about the things, and not considered “money”. Yet the principle is of wealth and possessions. We see this clearly in the first example of this lesson, looking at Cain and Able. We are also going to look at Abraham as well.

This lesson is focusing on the principle of money and wealth before the law, so the Patriarchal Age.

Cain and Able, Genesis 4:3-7,
1. The First Offerings,
  1. Both Gave,
    1. the very first thing to notice here is the fact that both Cain and Able brought forth offerings,
      - and this should clue us into the mindset, that it isn’t just about giving. If it was, then there would be no problem.
        
        Mark 12:41-44 “And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. 42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. 43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: 44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.”
        
        this is a mindset that we will see as we continue in this study,
        
        but here we have the rich giving, and the poor giving, and it even makes the distinctions that the rich gave much, and the woman only gave two mites,
        
        a mite was the smallest of the coins offered at the time, and looking at the conversion rate, it took basically 256 of these to make a days wage, in modern currency it would be less than fifty cents.
        
        However in vs.43, Jesus says that what the woman gave was more than what the rich gave.
        
        But notice the reason for this, she gave our of her want, that is her need, and they gave of their abundance.
        
        So let us look back at Cane and Able,
  2. What they Gave,
    1. Vs.3 “Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD”
    2. Vs.4 “Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof”
    3. and there have been many assumptions made about this offering,

1. 1. 1. - Vs.4&5 “the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect”
      - it is suggested by many that the difference between the respect of Abel’s offering and not for Cains is the blood,
        
        that Cain offered of the ground, produce, and Able offered life, blood.
        
        And this can be easily shoe horned into place because of the imagery of the lamb, and the imagery of “blood”
        
        but we must look at it in context,
        
        Here is a few things to think about,
        
        if only blood was accepted, then almost all of the other offerings and tithing would be moot, being they were made with coins, even the widow we just looked at in Mark 12, she offered bronze coins, not blood.
        
        Then we have to consider what the bible says about the blood of animals:
        
        Hebrews 10:4 “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins”
        
        the point of Hebrews 9&10, is that it took the sacrifice of Jesus to redeem, not of the sacrifices of the Old testament, they were only a stand in, a picture of the Messiah that would come.
        
        Which begs the question, then why is there a difference made between Abel’s sacrifice and Cains?
    2. Let the bible unfold Scripture, what does the bible say about it?
      - Well here in Genesis it doesn’t shed much light on it, it just goes into a warning to Cain. However….
      - Hebrews 11:4 “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous,…”
        
        OK, what was it that set apart Cain and Abel? BY FAITH.
        
        It wasn’t the offering, it was the manner the offering was made.
        
        This is true for the widow in Mark 12 as well.
    3. It is also important to look at the instructions of the Lord to Cain,

1. 1. 1. - vs.6&7 “And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?”
        
        so what is the instruction of this passage?
        
        If thou doest well… what dies this mean? Well, looking into the original language the phrase can be translated to:
        
        YATAV, to be joyous, to be happy.
        
        Is this a picture that we will see as the Lord loveth a cheerful giver?(II Cor.9:7)
    2. Ok, lets move on,
2. Abraham, Genesis 14:18-24 “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: 20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. 21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. 22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, 23 That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: 24 Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.”
  1. Abram retrieves Lot, and the spoils,
    1. to the victor belongs the spoils, is the old saying.
    2. (Kay-day-le-Ohm A) Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, had taken the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, spoiled them, taking all the goods, and the men as slaves.
      - When Abram heard of it, he took out after them, and caught up to them, killed the enemy, set free the captive, and took the spoils back.
    3. In the way, Melchizedek meet him,
      - Now, Melchizedek acknowledged that the victory was from God, vs20,
      - and Abram gave a tithe, that is a tenth of all they had taken, but notice this as not prompted by Melchizedek, neither was it commanded, it was voluntary by Abram.
    4. And then the King of Sodom told Abram, let me have the people back, and you can keep all the goods, the spoils. But notice the response of Abram,
      - He said, I have vowed to the Lord that I would not take a single thing from it for myself.
        
        So Abram, set the people free, Gave 10 percent to Melchizedek, only paid the young men out of it, and gave the remaining back to the people of Sodom..
  2. The First Recognition that All things Belong to God,
    1. and it is out of what God has that He blesses us with,
      - this can be seen in Philippians 4:19 “ But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
        
        Our needs, His riches…
    2. Vs.19, “And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth…”
      - when we look at the books of wisdom, we will see many verses testifying to this fact, that everything, in Heaven, and on earth belongs to God, this is the land, the animals, even the birds of the air are His. And they are His to do with as it pleases Him.
    3. This attitude was the attitude of Abram as well. So how far did Abram carry this idea?
      - He thought if is in this instance with the king of Sodom,
      - We also see an interesting thing about this attitude in Genesis 13,
        
        this is where Lot and Abram was separated,
        
        a division had come between them and their herdsmen, and they were both wealthy, Abram gave the choice to Lot as to where to settle.
        
        This was a decision that should have been made by Abram, the elder, and the head of the family. But he was gracious and generous to Lot.
        
        Lot chose the well water plains of Jordan, which was where Sodom was. And he chose that for himself, and Abram went into Canna. But there seems to be no animosity from Abram, no greed, or envy, and look at what happens next.
    4. Genesis 13:14-17 “And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. 17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee”
      - what is the dimensions of this land?
      - Genesis 15:18, the Lord defines the boarders… “Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: ”
        
        there is a great lesson here, Abram was not worried about the land, or the possessions, and God gave him more.
        
        This is an attitude that we see throughout the scriptures, those who seek to get rich, and turn their affections toward wealth and possessions, often end up apart from God, and discovering that the wealth they sought had little affect on their satisfaction and happiness.
    5. One more example of the Patriarchs,
      - Job 1:1-3 “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. 2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. 3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.”
      - Job 1:20&21 “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, 21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD 22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. ”
    6. So Job accepted that all his blessings were a result of the blessings of God, and it was within God’s prerogative to take it away, yet he never accused God of any evil… notice the closing words of the book of Job…
      - Job 42:7 “And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.”
      - Throughout the book, the friends of Job continually made the point that if a person lives right, God is obligated to bless, and vise versa.
      - But as the Lord said, they did not deal right with the Lord.

Take away:

It is not about giving, but having the proper attitude of things,
Understand that God is the giver of wealth, and having a generous attitude toward possessions is within the will of God.
Understand that Not only is God the giver, it is also within his prerogative to take it away as well.