Jesus and the Rich

Luke 18
18 ¶ And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Mt 19:16; Mr 10:17

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.
Mt 6:19-20; 19:21; 1Ti 6:19

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!
Pr 11:28; Mt 19:23; Mr 10:23

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.
Jer 32:17; Zec 8:6; Mt 19:26; Lu 1:37


Jesus and Tithe

Mt 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. {anise: Gr. dill}
Lu 11:42 But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone

Jesus and Giving

Luke 6:38
38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.


Conclusion

Money Versus Value
Money is a store of value
Money is a means and not an end
Money is a facilitator of ends achievement
Money cannot achieve ends alone, it must be combined with other factors such as human resources to achieve ends.
VALUE can be created without money. e.g the world was created without money. wild life and vegetation are regenerated without money and human intervention.
MONEY cannot be created without VALUE
Money mentioned in 118 times in KJV version of old testament scripture.
Money mentioned only 22 times in KJV new testament scripture
In John 6: 7 Philip focused on money as a means to an end (VALUE).
While in John 6:10 Jesus focus on virtue of faith (VALUE)
Money must be scarce to avoid it losing its ability to store value
Money is not a perfect store of value
Value is a function of perception of individual and varies from person to person.
Money is not an absolute store of value, but a relative store of value.

Recommendations
Church organization doesn’t have to over-depend on money before they can create value. This is because of the number of human resources at their disposal. Individual strength of members should not be assessed or equated to financial ability.
Low net worth individuals may be weak financially but may be strong in other valuable aspect of life.
Human resources constitute major part of the church asset, which can be accessed freely or cheaply by their members. This is demonstrated by the Lord Jesus Christ when he was about to feed about five thousand men, Individuals who do not have cash may be in possession of skill or materials needed by the church which they are willing to give, but if the church insists on money it denies the congregation the opportunity to give. After all the instruction in Luke 6:38 says GIVE, with no emphasis laid on money.
Economically, speaking money in circulation is always fewer than value in existence. Emphasis on money by the church will rob the church the ability to create value to full capacity.

Interesting