Living in the Image of God, What The Lord Has Given Us

Wealth, Treasures, and Compassion

Living in the Image of God M06S10

This bible study discusses Christ teaching regarding wealth, treasures, and compassion; to cap this year’s study series on using “what the Lord has given us” to provide for “needs that he will show us.” Christ gives the teaching in responding to the same question in two separate events. In each event, he was asked what an individual must do to inherit eternal life. In one event, Christ responds with the Parable of Good Samaritan. In the other event, he responds with the analogy of the “rich versus the kingdom of God.” We discuss the two responses to understand that they are the same. Although, the specific information that Jesus provides in each response is different, the responses convey exactly the same message: apply the wealth that God has given you to provide for needs that he will show you and he will grant you eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

This bible study ends the series on “what the Lord has given us;” with a discussion of Christ teaching regarding compassion, God’s purpose for personal wealth, and the role of compassion and wealth in human interactions and relationships. He provides the teaching as a response to the same question in two events. In one event, a teacher of the Law asked what a person must do to inherit eternal life [Luke 10:25]: “On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’” Jesus responds with the Parable of Good Samaritan. In another event, the same question was posed by an ordinary citizen [Matthew 19:16]: “Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, ‘Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’” Jesus responds with the analogy of “the rich versus the kingdom of God.”

We discuss the two responses to understand that they provide the same message. The two responses convey a message regarding compassion, God’s purpose for wealth, and the role of compassion and wealth in human interactions and relationships: apply the wealth that God has given you to provide for needs that he will show you and he will grant you eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

Program Note

The 2025 program year of the Banking Blessings Ministry ends with this bible study session. We will take a break to prepare for the 2026 program year, which we pray will start during the last week of February. Thank you for participating with us this year. We look forward to welcoming you and many others to the program next year.

Christ Response Using Parable of Good Samaritan

As we discuss previously under M06S01, Individual Responsibility in Call for Assistance: to respond to the teacher of the Law, Jesus first directs him to answer the question from the Scripture. Then he accepts the answer provided by the expert, which means that a person must have a positive personal relationship with God and a positive human relationship with others, in order to receive eternal life in the kingdom of God. Having a positive human relationship with others requires understanding “who is my neighbor” and living according to the understanding.

Jesus provides the Parable of Good Samaritan to explain “who is my neighbor and what is the meaning of ‘Love your neighbor as yourself?’” We discuss the Parable of Good Samaritan in M06S01 and summarize the discussion here to understand the message better. The message of the parable can be summarized as follows.

  • Be attentive to people and circumstances you encounter.
  • Recognize any need and needy presented by the people and circumstances.
  • Care about the needy.
  • Motivated only by care, commit to doing what you can and persevere in seeking to alleviate the need.
  • Use what God has given you to address the needs you encounter.

That is, be attentive to recognize needs that God will show you and do what you can to alleviate the needs. Next, we discuss Christ’s response at the other event.

Christ Response Using Analogy of Rich Versus Kingdom of God

In responding to the question posed by an ordinary citizen at the other event, Christ provides two commands and one promise. The first command is to sell your possessions, the second is to give to the poor, and the promise is that you will have treasure in heaven. To understand the response, we review our previous discussion regarding wealth, treasure, poor, and needy.

Sell Your Possessions

First, we discuss the command to sell your possessions. Recall our previous discussion of wealth and treasure from M06S08, Managing Personal Wealth—Christ Teaching in Sermon on the Mount, which can be summarized as follows.

  • God gives wealth to a person to empower him or her to solve problems.
  • Treasure is wealth that the owner intends as a put-away to be held permanently and not to be used. That is, treasure is wealth that by owner’s intent is removed from God’s intended purpose for wealth.
  • Wealth put away as treasure can be converted back to wealth intended for use: by selling.

Based on this understanding regarding wealth and treasure, the command “sell your possessions” means that you should convert your treasure back to wealth intended for use. That is: if you have wealth put away as treasure, convert the treasure to wealth available to be used according to God’s purpose for wealth. Recall that the owner’s intent is the key difference between wealth and treasure. Therefore, “sell your possession” means change your intent regarding the possession from “treasure intent” to “useable-wealth” intent.

Give to the Poor

To understand the “Give to the Poor” command, let us recall from our previous discussion of Poor and Needy. A person is “poor” regarding a need if he or she is unable to provide for the need. The person is a “Needy” regarding the specific need. A “Needy” is someone that needs assistance to provide for his or her need. Recall that in a call to compassion (M02S01, Understanding Compassion), God alerts you to the need of another person and calls you to recognize the need, care about the needy, commit to doing what you can, and persevere in seeking to alleviate the need. Therefore, the command “Give to the poor” means provide for a need that God has shown you to benefit the Needy. That is, recognize and perform your individual responsibilities in a call to compassion.

Treasure in Heaven

As we discuss previously under M06S08, Managing Personal Wealth—Christ Teaching in Sermon on the Mount, building treasure in heaven means accumulating blessing through behavior that pleases God. You use your personal wealth to build treasure in heaven by using the wealth to provide for needs that God will show you: needs of self and needs of others. You receive blessing each time you use your personal wealth as God intended. The blessings accumulate for your benefit and can never be lost or destroyed: “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” [Matthew 6:20].

Understanding the Analogy of Rich Versus Kingdom of God

Based on the understanding discussed in the foregoing paragraphs, the two commands and one promise that Christ provides through the response convey the following message.

  • Convert your earthly treasure to useable wealth;
  • Use your wealth to provide for needs that God will show you;
  • Recognize the need;
  • Care about the Needy;
  • Commit to doing what you can;
  • Persevere in seeking to alleviate the need;
  • You will build treasure in heaven.

[Matthew 19:21] “Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’” A person that builds treasure on earth makes his or her wealth unavailable for solving problems as God intended. God frowns at such people. He denies them a place in his Kingdom: “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven’” [Matthew 19:23].

Summary of What We Learned

The bible study discusses Christ teaching regarding wealth, treasures, and compassion; to cap this year’s study series on using “what the Lord has given us” to provide for “needs that he will show us.” Christ gives the teaching in responding to the same question in two separate events. In each event, he was asked what an individual must do to inherit eternal life.

In one event, Christ responds with the Parable of the Good Samaritan. In the other event, he responds with the analogy of the “rich versus the kingdom of God.” We discuss the two responses to understand that they are the same. Although, the specific information that Jesus provides in each response is different, the responses convey exactly the same message: apply the wealth that God has given you to provide for needs that he will show you and he will grant you eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

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