WEEK 5 “ The Gospel Offers a Passionate Reward & requires a Passionate Shift in Thinking”

WEEK 5

“The Gospel Offers a Passionate Reward & requires a Passionate Shift in Thinking”

Jesus does not want to strip us of our pleasure, instead, he wants to

satisfy us with His treasure.

Mark 10:17-31

A Passionate Reward

Mark 10:28-30 (NIV) Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!” 29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.

A Passionate Reward

Matthew 13:44 (NIV) "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."

A Passionate Reward

In Christ we have found something worth losing everything for!

Do we want short term treasures we can’t keep or long term treasures

we can’t lose?

A Passionate Reward

Matthew 6:19-24 (NIV) “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 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.

A Passionate Reward

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light... 24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

A Passionate Shift in Thinking

• Genesis 12:1–3 (NIV) The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”


Genesis 12:4–5 (NIV) So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.


Genesis 24:34–35 (NIV) So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. 35 The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.


Genesis 26:12 (NIV) Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him.


Genesis 30:43 (NIV) In this way Jacob grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.


Genesis 47:27 (NIV) Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.


Leviticus 26:3–5, 9 (NIV) “ ‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land…


…9 “ ‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you." [1]

[1] cf. Deuteronomy 28

A Passionate Shift in ThinkingCraig Blomberg in his great Biblical theology book called "From Poverty to Riches" says in conclusion, “The New Testament carried forward the major principles of the Old Testament with one conspicuous omission. Never, in the New Testament, never was material wealth promised as a guaranteed reward for spiritual obedience. Material reward for piety or for obedience never reappears in Jesus’ teachings. And in fact, it is explicitly contradicted throughout.”[1]

[1] Craig Blomberg: "From Poverty to Riches" (This is a Whole Biblical Theology to Possessions) page 242.


"The Church in Australia is the biggest non-government landowner in Australia, with many valuable investment properties. In the financial crash of 2008/9 the Anglican Archdiocese of Sydney alone lost $160 million but still survived!"[1]

[1] Taken from… http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/rich-men-in-the-tax-free-kingdom-of-god/

A Passionate Shift in ThinkingTo illustrate the income inequality between rich and poor countries, consider these facts: about 1.75 billion people live in multi-dimensional poverty, meaning extreme deprivation in education, health, and standard of living; 1.44 billion people out of the developing world's 6.9 billion people live on $1.25 per day; 2.6 billion people are estimated to be living on less than $2 a day. Multidimensional poverty varies by region from three percent in Europe and Central Asia to 65% in Sub-Saharan Africa.[1]

[1] http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0908763.html#ixzz1ptdkFbeH

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0908763.html#ixzz1ptdkFbeH


Instead of God giving possessions to build a place to

display His Glory among the nations, now God is giving

possessions to build a people who take his Glory to the nations.


We’re a people. We have been given much, not to acquire more, and not to build places and stuff, but to take the Glory of Christ to

the nations.


In the Old Testament obedience to God led to acquiring

possessions on earth.

New Testament obedience to God leads to abandoning possessions

on earth.

A Passionate Shift in ThinkingRandy Alcorn said, "A startling thing has happened among the Western Christians. Many of us, habitually, think and act as if there were no eternity or as if what we do in this present life has no eternal consequences. Without a doubt, the single greatest contributor to our inability to see money and possessions in their true light is our persistent failure to see our present lives through the lens of eternity." [1]

[1] Randy Alcorn: "Money, Possessions and Eternity"


1 Corinthians 3:11–16 (NIV) For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.


14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. 16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?

Lets Pray…

WEEK 5 “ The Gospel Offers a Passionate Reward & requires a Passionate Shift in Thinking”

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