Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of Scripture, but before we do that I wanted to tell you a little story.
Up here in northern Minnesota, there seems to be a choice meal of fish that many people want, walleye. People will spend incredible amounts of money just to catch them, using fishing boats that are worth more than a humble person’s home. You will even find good fish that they don’t want, thrown into the ditch to rot in the woods. Throughout the centuries, certain types of foods have always been a delicacy for people of wealth, such as moose cheese or even caviar. Even when you butchered a hog, the choice cuts of meat were considered the higher cuts on the animal, such as the loins, chops or hams, and were normally reserved for the owners. The lower and undesirable parts, such as the intestines, feet and belly would be given to their servants.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
Living high on the hog is to live comfortably or extravagantly due to one’s personal wealth and financial security. Rather than considering the needs of the poor, they focus on their own desires instead. But their short-lived happiness will result in eternal misery when they are punished by God for their insensitivity and greed. Their riches will bear witness against them, and consume them as fire, on that great day of reckoning before the mighty throne of God.
James 5 ¹ Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. ² Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. ³ Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. ⁴ Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. ⁵ Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
⁶ Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
Moses walked away from all the treasures in Egypt because his love for God was greater than the world. He became poor so that he could become rich in Spiritual things. The love for Earthly gain is a damnable distraction, pulling people away from a close relationship with God. We don’t need money to survive, we need God, and this is why the love of money is the root of all evil.
1 Timothy 6 ⁶ But godliness with contentment is great gain.
⁷ For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. ⁸ And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
⁹ But 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. ¹⁰ For 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.
“No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Luke 16:13
Everything that you see belongs to Jesus Christ. The Earth is His property and everything on it. Oh certainly the Earth will divvy it up amongst themselves, but the facts are that you can forget about private ownership. You can forget the distinction between properties. Everything belongs to God whether people believe that or not, and God is watching to see what you do with what He has allowed you to possess. When it comes down to it, each of us are stewards of the things of God. Our precious God is the greatest giver there is, and His love speaks out to us each and every day through what He has already provided us. He has allowed us to freely live on this Earth. After all, He didn’t charge you for your rent. He has freely given us food that miraculously grows right out of the ground, along with meat and fresh water to drink. He didn’t charge you a dime for any of these things. Everything belongs to Him, it always has, from the coal you mine, to the fields that you grow, to the things you possess, and the air that you breathe. Everything is His. But even though God owns everything, He became poor, like unto a servant, to make us rich Spiritually.
“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9
God is watching to see what you will do with the things He has given you. Will you help others the way that He has helped you?
Luke 12 ¹⁶ And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: ¹⁷ And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? ¹⁸ And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. ²⁰ But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? ²¹ So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
The heart of the rich bevomes defiled with the pleasures of this world.
“Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.” James 5:5
“But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.”
Luke 6:24
Some people weep at the thought of helping others. This is because they love the world rather than God.
Luke 18 ¹⁸ And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
¹⁹ And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. ²⁰ Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
²¹ And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. ²² Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. ²³ And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. ²⁴ And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! ²⁵ For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. ²⁶ And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? ²⁷ And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
Some people will be greatly deceived and follow the path that leads to eternal punishment. Rather than using the things that God has given them to benefit others, they will ignore the cries of the poor, choosing to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, and living….
…. High on the Hog
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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