Living in the Image of God M06S08

The series on “what the Lord has given us” takes us this month to a Christ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount on managing personal wealth. God blesses individuals with personal wealth to be applied towards providing for needs that he will show them. Christ addresses personal wealth in the Sermon on the Mount through the teaching of “Treasures on Earth or In Heaven.” The teaching describes two alternatives for managing personal wealth. One alternative is to divert your wealth to building treasures on earth and risk losing all to circumstances you cannot control. The other alternative is to apply the wealth to provide for needs that God will show you and earn blessing as you do. Your earned blessings accumulate for your benefit and cannot be lost. The teaching leads to understanding the relationship between wealth and treasure and understanding blessing as a permanent promise of God.

This bible study discusses Christ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount regarding the management of personal wealth. He presents two alternatives: In one alternative, you divert your personal wealth to building treasures on earth and risk losing all to circumstances you cannot control: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal” [Matthew 6:19]. In the other alternative, you use your personal wealth as God intended, to provide for needs that he will show you. You earn blessings as you do and the blessings you earn accumulate for your benefit and cannot be lost [Matthew 6:20]: “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

The teaching conveys an understanding of the relationships between wealth and treasure. We will learn that owner’s intent is the primary feature that distinguishes wealth from treasure. God gives wealth but the owner (an individual person) can decide to divert the wealth to treasure by changing his/her intent regarding the wealth. Second, the teaching conveys an understanding of blessing as a permanent promise of God. You earn blessing when you use your personal wealth as God intended. The blessing you earn accumulates for your benefit and cannot be taken away or destroyed. As we discuss in previous studies (e.g., M02S06, Accumulation of Blessing; M02S07, Blessing Does Not Seek Perfection): blessing and punishment are parallel promises of God, may coexist for a person, do not trade-off against each other, and will be fulfilled separately by God’s schedule as if for different people. One exception is that God can forgive a promise of punishment if the recipient repents and asks for forgiveness.

Additionally, we discuss Paul’s message in a letter to Timothy: his message of banking blessing by using what the Lord has given you to provide for needs that he will show you (1 Timothy 6:17–19).