Mathew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
One of the side effects of the Covid virus is that it spawned several millionaires and billionaires, who profited greatly from investments in pharmaceutical companies, as millions of vaccines became readily available. Others made tremendous profits by their investments in social media companies, which had become more essential because of the lockdowns.
Still other folk made their wealth by investing in the commodities, streaming services, and food delivery since people were hedged in with difficulty because of the need to stay put. Cars, and housing became decidedly more expensive as manufacturing plants were forced to shutter their doors, yet it was later discovered that the sales of automobiles shot way up between 2020 and 2022.
And supply chain problems were greatly increased, as container shipments slowed to a crawl, and the biggest ports were forced to suspend operations as the death toll from the virus mounted. At the same time, crypto-currencies experienced a phenomenal rise as persons betted that this would be the future of business transactions, and as a result many folk became crypto rich.
So, it is true that one of the unexpected side effects of the virus is that it produced a plethora of newly minted rich folk, who saw their wealth skyrocket in the past few years, but some are now learning the hard way that the stock market is not immune to the laws of gravity.
Now that inflation is taking its toll, now that the war in Ukraine has upended the relative peace, stability, and globalization that had characterized the former years and now that the price of energy is eating into discretionary spending in real time, the sentiments have changed quite dramatically, and the irrational exuberance of recent years is shifting to doom and gloom.
Now there is nothing wrong with being rich, making sound investments, or financial decisions, if there is a balance between the spiritual and the temporal. It is a fact that changes do occur very often in persons as their wealth is increased, yet, if God isn’t left out of the picture, and if one’s priorities do not become mixed up, riches can be a blessing, and not a curse.
However, in the mad rush to get rich, some persons have adopted the mantra, which is the title of our Bible study: Get Rich or Die Trying. This philosophy is not only to be found in the secular realm for it has now infiltrated the minds of many Christians, being fueled in many cases by the health wealth gospel of the day.
As mega church pastors and televangelists flaunted their wealth, their congregants followed on in their footsteps, triggering a mad gold rush for money and material things, which in turn, have caused many to stumble and fall into one of the most successful and soul-destroying devices of devils.
The Bible study today will seek to correct the errors and misconceptions about riches that have crept in, and to rein in the inappropriate behaviors that have resulted in the falling away of some Christians. First on the list of issues that would be addressed is the fact that whatsoever we may do, if God is not in it, it will fail, sooner or later.
Our first passage brings this truth to the forefront of our minds by raising the prospect that a person may become rich and successful by the world’s standard but if his/her priorities get mixed up along the way, such a person could lose their soul for eternity, and thus, the question posed by our first passage should cause persons to question introspectively: Is it really worth it?
Is it worth it to gain the world and lose one’s soul in the process, or is it better and wiser to live one’s life waiting on God to provide according as He sees best yet never causing the material concerns of this life to eat away at our spirituality, to the point where the kingdom of God and His righteousness become an afterthought?
To answer this and many other questions pertaining to the topic, we must revisit those passages in the Bible which deal on the subject matter. All scripture is given by the inspiration of God and thus, if we are draw the correct conclusions, and if we are to make straight paths for our feet, the word of God must be as a lamp unto our feet and the light unto our path.
The following therefore, are some of the passages in the scriptures that shed great light on the issue of riches, how wealth should be gotten, and managed, and what is the correct perspective that Christians are to adopt if God so chooses to bless persons with riches.
We will let the Bible speak for itself, and where the verses may not be clear or apparent to the reader, we’ll try to explain using the line upon line method as per Isaiah. Also, we should pay close attention to the highlighted words in the various passages, so as not to make important truths slip. Let’s read:
Deuteronomy 8:10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
To bless God for the material blessings of life does not mean that anyone can actually bless God, for as one scripture says, the lesser is always blessed by the greater. What the passage means is that we are to acknowledge God as the Giver of all good gifts for this will mitigate the tendency to erroneously think that we own anything, in and of ourselves.
Deuteronomy 8:11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day.
This passage is huge, and must be understood in the fullest sense of the words. According to Cambridge English dictionary, the word “Beware” means [1] To warn someone to be very careful about something, or someone. [2] It is used on signs to warn people of something dangerous.
In the passage in Deuteronomy, we are cautioned to “Beware” of forgetting God. The word “forget” as used in the context does not merely mean to not remember God; it specifies what forget means, for the word refers directly to the keeping of His laws, commandments, statutes and judgements.
In other words, God is warning us of the dangerous tendency to disregard His words, instructions, and laws, after He has blessed us. The reason why we’re to “Beware” is because according to sacred history, it is a documented fact that human beings tend to forget God, after He has blessed some with riches.
Case in point was Solomon, whom God blessed with riches who started out his life journey being humble but who later apostatized being lifted up in pride as he reveled in the material blessings of God.
Little by little, Solomon came to view his riches as the direct result of his own wisdom and genius, and no sooner had he embraced this fatal philosophy, he went on to “forget” about God by not keeping His commandment. The before and after history of Solomon, as written in the scriptures, speak truth to why God said “Beware” in Deuteronomy. Let’s read:
Before: 2nd Chronicles 6:3 And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole congregation
of Israel….
4 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who hath with his hands fulfilled that which he spoke with his mouth to my father David….
12 And he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands,
14 And said, O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; Who keeps covenant, and shews mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts.
2nd Chronicles 7:1 Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house.
2 And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house.
3 And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the Lord, saying, for he is good; for his mercy endures forever.
Before we get to Solomon’s after-history, it will be necessary for us to observe the instructions given in the scripture concerning what a king of Israel should and should not do. These instructions were given in wisdom so that the future kings of Israel could avoid becoming self-sufficient, and independent of God. Let’s read:
Deuteronomy 17:14 When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;
15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee.
16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses.
1st Kings 4: 26 And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.
Deuteronomy 17:17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away.
1st Kings 11:1 But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites.
2 Of the nations concerning which the Lord said
unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely, they will turn away your heart after their gods.
3 And….his wives turned away his heart. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
Deuteronomy 17:18 And it shall be, when he sits upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites.
19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them.
20 That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.
We observe in the above passages that the study of God’s word was not to be neglected as one’s riches and power increased, for whenever this takes place, it would be just a matter of time before the laws of God, and the principles of His kingdom are replaced by secular ideologies and philosophies that pervade and guide the minds of worldly investors.
As a direct result, persons gradually begin to look to Warren Buffet and Elon Musk and the worldly wise for financial advice or guidance, whilst the word of God, with its wisdom and instructions are frowned upon as being archaic and irrelevant.
Not that those guys are not smart or intelligent, but what they do not have is foreknowledge, to know what will take place in the future. For instance, if Elon Musk had known that twitter stock would drop as it has done recently, he most likely wouldn’t have offered to buy the company for $54.00 a share.
Now, it is true that as Christians we too do not have foreknowledge, but we do serve the God Who has omniscience, and as such, if we were to ask Him, He could direct us in making the right move, whether it be Twitter, Crypto, or otherwise. This is just one of the reasons why The Lord said “Beware”.
Again, if in one’s haste to get rich, persons begin to neglect the study of God’s word, and if the services of the church do not seem to be all that important anymore, and if the Sabbath is now used as a day to catch up on one’s ZZZs that were lost during the six working days, because of the multitude of business, then we may know for sure that such a person has begun to “Forget” God. Let’s read:
Deuteronomy 8:12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God…..
17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
18 But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
20 …Because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.
Again, the ways and means adopted to get rich will determine to a great extent whether we would sink with the markets or whether like the fabled tortoise we would walk with a steady and even tread.
As a general rule, “easy comes easy goes” so that if an individual is in a hurry to get rich quickly, the likelihood of a catastrophic loss goes up all the more, as haste lends itself to rash decisions and the lack of well thought out analysis, for money that is earned by hard labor is more likely to be spent in a frugal manner. It’s all there in the word of God. Let’s read:
Proverbs 13:11 Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathers by labor shall increase.
Proverbs 23:4 Labor not to be rich. cease from thine own wisdom. 5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
Proverbs 28:22 He that hastens to be rich hath an evil eye and considers not that poverty shall come upon him.
Proverbs 15: 27 He that is greedy of gain troubles his own house; but he that hates gifts shall live.
1st 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.
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.
11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
This leads us to our study: “Get Rich or Die Trying” The Lord spoke a parable which addressed the topic we are currently studying. In His opening statement to the parable Christ employs the same word which we read of in Deuteronomy, namely “Beware”. One of the reasons for this is that the craving to be rich continues to haunt persons, inside and outside the church.
It may manifest itself in different ways, but the end result is almost always the same: Persons get too attached to their wealth, the kingdom of God and His righteousness gradually loses its appeal, and in many instances, persons go on to sell their soul for the love of money and material things.
This is what caused Lot’s wife to be lost eternally, in that it was too hard for her to give up their former life of luxury and riches, in exchange for living in the country where the glitter and bling often lose their sting. We must not deceive ourselves into thinking that becoming attached to wealth is something that can be dropped in a moment, without a protest from the adversary.
A person would have to be walking very close with God for such a disconnect not to take place when a sudden decision on the matter has to be made, for this was made clear when the rich young ruler was faced with the stark choice. He quickly summed up the ramifications of a choice that would materially change the trajectory of his life, and then he made his decision. He would serve mammon instead of God.
It's the same problem the rich man in the following parable encountered, grappled with, and eventually lost, because the gravitational pull of desiring to be rich, often proves too great a temptation to resist. This is why the Bible does not say money is the root of all evil. What it does say is that the love of money is the root of all evil. Let’s read:
Luke 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.
16 And he spoke 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 lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
In the parable, we observe that the same issues that plagued Solomon, and so many more throughout history, also affected this man. He forgot about God in not keeping His commandments, since one of the laws given by God stipulates that a regular provision for the poor, and less fortunate are to be staples in our giving, whenever we get paid. Let’s read:
Leviticus 19: 9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, (In other words, when you get paid) you shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God.
The rich man in the parable also allowed his wealth to lead him to pride and self-sufficiency by which he forgot to acknowledge God as his Benefactor. This can be observed by the amount of times the words I and my occur in the parable; ten times in all.
Gradually, he came to trust in his riches as a sort of bulwark against any adverse situation that would arise and the more he accumulated, the less he saw his need of God. The Bible also addresses this issue as being one of the snares, attendant to being rich, if one is not very, very careful. Let’s read:
Proverbs 18: 10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runs into it, and is safe. 11 The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as a high wall in his own conceit.
Again, he signally failed to strike the right balance between earthly wealth and eternal riches, and in the process, he finally lost his own soul. Whenever one’s riches and the procurement thereof cause a man to value the temporal more than the spiritual, one’s priorities and the true purposes for living will become inverted. The servant of The Lord puts it this way. Let’s read:
[Ministry of Healing pp 211] The cup most difficult to carry is not the cup that is empty, but the cup that is full to the brim. It is this that needs to be most carefully balanced. Affliction and adversity bring disappointment and sorrow; but it is prosperity that is most dangerous to spiritual life.
The good news is that there are examples of the righteous in days of yore, who, by following God’s instructions on wealth, were able to strike the right balance, being rich toward God, whilst being rich in the material things of earth. Daniel was rich, but he did not allow riches to interfere with his prayer time or with his relationship with God.
The same is true of Abraham, Job, and Isaac, all of whom were very rich, yet they were able by God’s grace to strike the correct balance between their temporal wealth and the things of eternal value, for whenever this is done wealth can be a blessing, and persons would not be in a frenzy to get rich, and die trying. Let’s read:
Genesis 13:2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel;
4 Unto the place of the altar which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
Genesis 12:5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan…..
[Patriarchs & Prophets pp 141] Abraham's house- hold comprised more than a thousand souls. Those who were led by his teachings to worship the one God, found a home in his encampment; and here, as in a school, they received such instruction as would prepare them to be representatives of the true faith.
Thus, a great responsibility rested upon him. He was training heads of families, and his methods of government would be carried out in the households over which they should preside.
Job 1: There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
The word of The Lord comes down to us expressly in our day, where there seems to be a deep, longing desire to get rich, or die trying. Persons seem willing to do whatever it takes to accumulate wealth, even if the commandments, and instructions of God are trodden underfoot in the process.
Again, there are thousands dying daily in Ukraine, without food, clothing, or shelter, and there are a multitude of single parent families suffering under the weight of inflationary pressures. Yet, in the mad rush to get rich, God and man are often forgotten, in so much that some fail to realize that the second coming of Christ is near, even at the doors.
It is true that we must work for our daily bread, and the blessing of God will attend well-directed efforts in monetary as well as other matters, but we should always keep God’s honor, and glory in the forefront of our minds, lest, like the man in the parable, our priorities become mixed up and inverted. Let’s read:
This is the reason why Christ issued the following caution to us who are living in the last days, so that we would avoid being caught up in the frenzy of the moment, of trying to get rich, and die trying.
Luke 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Let us therefore walk soberly, with a steady and even tread, knowing that God will provide all that we need and then some, for it is not His will that we should become consumed with trying to be rich, to the neglect of our souls, and to the neglect of the interests of His kingdom.
We will end with a few passages of scripture which should help us to maintain the right perspective on temporal matters, and let us always remember, that at the end of life’s journey it will be our relationship with Christ, and what we have done, in the building up of His kingdom, that will matter the most in life. Let’s read:
Matthew 6: 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? or, what shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knows that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
God Bless!